Timeline India B 1992-2003
Return to home
Go
to
India_A thru 1991
Go to
India_C 2004-2006
1992
Apr 23, Satyajit Ray (b.1921), Indian director
(Distant Thunder, Agantuk), died.
(http://www.satyajitray.org/bio/index.htm)
1992 May 4, India and Russia sign
a five-year agreement on trade and economic cooperation.
(www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080048779)
1992 Dec 6, In Uttar Pradesh,
India, thousands of Hindu kar sevaks, soldiers of the Ram Temple
movement, destroyed the Babri Mosque and 4 people were killed. This set
off two months of Hindu-Muslim rioting that claimed at least 2,000
lives. Attackers set off 13 bomb blasts in Bombay that destroyed
skyscrapers and killed 600 people. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
inspired Hindus to raze a 16th century mosque in the northern town of
Ayodhya. The demolition caused Hindu-Muslim riots across India and
3,000 people were killed. Hindus believe that the site was the
birthplace of the god Ram and that Mogul invaders tore down a temple at
the site to build the Babri Mosque. In 1998 the Congress Party
apologized for the mosque destruction.
(WSJ, 5/6/96, p.A-9)(WSJ, 5/7/96, p.A-14)(AP,
12/6/97)(SFEC, 1/25/98, p.A20)(MC, 12/6/01)(SFC, 3/15/02, p.A16)
1992 Amartya Sen, philosopher and
economist from India, published his book: "Inequality Reexamined." Sen
won the 1998 Nobel Prize in economics.
(WSJ, 10/15/98, p.A22)
1992 A.R. Rahman recorded the
soundtrack for the film "Roja."
(SFEC,12/14/97, DB p.63)
1992 India’s central government
approved a foreign owned power project. Enron Corp. was contracted to
build the Dabhol Power Co. in Maharashtra state.
(WSJ, 2/5/99, p.A1)
1992 Talwinder Singh Parmar, Sikh
fundamentalist and alleged mastermind of the June 23, 1985, bombing of
Air India Flight 182, was killed in a shootout with Indian police.
(Econ, 3/19/05, p.46)
1992 Indian transplants in Silicon
Valley founded The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE). By 2009 the group had a
network of 12,000 members and operated in 53 cities in 12 countries.
(Econ, 3/14/09, SR p.4)
1992-2002 India grew at an average annual rate of 6%.
(Econ, 12/13/08, SR p.8)
1993 Mar 12, In Bombay (Mumbai),
India, 13 bombs exploded killing 257 people. Abu Salem, alleged
terrorist mastermind, Mafia boss and one of India's most wanted men,
was arrested in Portugal in 2002. Salem was accused by Indian police of
being involved in the country's worst bombing attack, as well as a
string of murder and extortion cases. More than 100 people, most of
them Muslims, were accused of involvement in the attacks. In 2006 4
family members were found guilty in the first verdict in the
prosecution of India's deadliest terror attack. Asgar Yusuf Mukadam and
Shahnawaz Qureshi were convicted for murdering 10 people in one of the
bombings. Abdul Turk (40) was convicted of leaving an explosives-laden
jeep in a crowded shopping and residential area of Mumbai, killing 113
people and injuring scores. In 2007 Parvez Shaikh, Mushtaq Tarani and
Abdul Ghani Turk were sentenced to death for planting explosives in
Mumbai. Also sentenced to death were Asgar Muqadam and Shahnawaz
Qureshi for involvement in placing bombs at a cinema in Mumbai
and Shoaib Ghansar for involvement in the bombing at the Zaveri Bazaar.
Yakub Memon was sentenced to death for playing a key role in procuring
the weapons and explosives used in the serial attacks.
(AP, 3/12/98)(AP, 9/20/02)(AP, 9/12/06)(AP,
9/18/06)(AP, 9/19/06)(AP, 7/18/07)(AP, 7/19/07)
(AP, 7/27/07)
1993 Mar 17, A bomb attack in
Calcutta, India, killed 60 people.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_bombings_(1993))
1993 Jul 13, A.K. Ramanujan
(b.1929), Indian poet and scholar, died in Chicago. In 1999 his
collected essays were published.
(WSJ, 4/4/09,
p.W8)(www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Ramanujan.html)
1993 Sep 30, An estimated 10,000
(28,000) people were killed when an earthquake measuring a magnitude of
6.0-6.4 struck Latur in southern India. Its epicenter was about 350
miles southwest of Jabalpur.
(SFC, 5/22/97, p.C4)(AP, 9/30/98)(SFC, 3/30/99,
p.F2)(AP, 6/22/02)
1993 Oct, Coca-Cola returned to
India after a 16-year absence by acquiring soft-drink brands from
India’s Parle Group that included Thums Up.
(WSJ, 5/22/96, p.A-16)(WSJ, 4/29/98, p.B1)
1993 Nov, Kiran Bedi, an inspector
general of prisons, introduced the Vipassana meditation technique at
Tihar Prison. A film was later made called "Doing Time, Doing
Vipassana" that demonstrated the technique
(SFC, 2/19/99, p.E12)
1993 Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha
Rao allegedly bribed members of Parliament to vote for his government
in a no-confidence measure. Rao was sentenced in 2000 to 3 years in
prison for his role in the bribery. The conviction was reversed on
appeal Mar 15, 2002.
(SFC, 10/13/00, p.D3)(WSJ, 3/18/02, p.A1)
1993 India passed legislation that
banned “manual scavenging,” the practice of cleaning feces from houses
that lacked flushing toilets. It also forbade the unplumbed toilets
that necessitated the practice.
(Econ, 7/12/08, p.54)
1993 In Bombay Hindus killed some
800 Muslims in revenge for earlier killings. In 2000 Bal Thackeray, a
Hindu supremacist, was arrested for inciting the killings, but was
released because the case was filed too late.
(SFC, 7/26/00, p.A13)
1993 The Tibet Transit School near
Dharamsala, India, was founded for arrivals from Tibet aged 18-30.
(Econ, 12/24/05, p.57)
1993-2005 In India pollution on the Yamuna River
doubled and continued to rise. The river extended 855 miles from the
Himalaya Mountains to the Ganges. New Delhi with 15 million inhabitants
dumped 57% of its waste into the Yamuna.
(SFC, 7/27/07, p.A17)
1994 May 4, India made its 4th
developmental launch of ASLV. The 113 kg Stretched Rohini Satellite
Series (SROSS-C2) was launched by fourth developmental flight of
ASLV-D4 from Sriharikota.
(www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080048779)
1994 Jul 28, In India 10 people
died in a seven-hour gun battle when Indian police raided a camp run by
Naga militants.
(http://listserv.indnet.org/cgi/wa.cgi?A2=ind9407e&L=india-d&T=0&F=&S=&P=196)
1994 Dec 5, In India’s Bihar state
a mob that pulled senior government official G. Krishnaiah out of his
car and beat him unconscious before shooting him to death because the
official's car had inadvertently crossed paths with the funeral
procession of a noted underworld don and aspiring politician, Chottan
Shukla. In 2007 Anand Mohan and two other politicians were sentenced to
hang for their role in the attack. Four others, including Mohan's wife,
Lovely Anand — also a former member of parliament — were sentenced to
life in prison by the court in Patna, the capital of Bihar state.
(AP, 10/4/07)(http://tinyurl.com/3yj99o)
1994 The Indian Parliament
unanimously decided that its goal was to extend its rule to all of
"Pakistan-occupied Kashmir."
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.C2)
1994 Representatives of 14
tiger-range countries met in New Delhi and agreed to cooperate in
combating the trade in tigers.
(NG, 12/97, p.22)
1994 The Hindustan-Tibet Road was
opened to tourists. It linked the Kinnaur Valley, once and independent
Hindu kingdom, and the Spiti Valley, formerly part of the west Tibetan
kingdom of Guge.
(SFEC, 7/23/00, p.T1)
1995 Mar, In Maharashtra state a
Hindu-Nationalist government was elected.
(WSJ, 2/5/99, p.A1)
1995 May 4, India launched the
fourth ASLV-D4 from Sriharikota, successfully placing the SROSS-C2
satellite in orbit.
(www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080048779)
1995 Jul, Four hostages: Donald
Hutchings, Keith Mangan, Paul Wells and Dirk Hasert were seized by
Kashmir guerillas, who call themselves Al Faran. In May ‘96 a Muslim
insurgent, who claimed to have been involved, said the men were killed
and buried in the mountains in Dec. The captured rebel Nasir Mehmood
said in a police report that the hostages were killed Dec 13, 1995 by
guerrillas of Harkat-ul-Ansar, a group based in Pakistan. The Al Faran
name was coined to confuse Indian authorities.
(SFC, 5/27/96, p.A6)(SFC, 12/23/96, p.A12)(SFC,
4/8/98, p.A12)
1995 Aug 3, In Maharashtra state
the Hindu-Nationalist government declared an end to the $2.5 billion
Enron project to build Dabhol Power. Enron later renegotiated the
project and went online in 1999
(WSJ, 2/5/99, p.A1)
1995 Aug 13, Hans-Christian Ostro,
a 27-year-old Norwegian who had come to India to study dance was found
dead in the Pahalgam district with his severed head balanced between
his thighs, close to the sight of a previous kidnapping by Kashmir
guerillas.
(SFC, 5/27/96, p.A6)
1995 Aug 20, In Firozabad, India,
a speeding passenger train crashed into a train that had stalled after
hitting a cow and some 358 people were killed.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A15)(SFC, 8/3/99, p.A8)(AP,
8/20/00)
1995 Sep, N. Chandrababu Naidu
took power in Andhra Pradesh state from his father-in-law N.T. Rama
Rao. Rao was the founder of the ethnic based Telugu Desam Party.
www.andrhapradesh.com
(SFC, 2/2/99, p.A9)
1995 Oct, Dr. Kataria organized a
group of 5 people in Bombay to share jokes and laugh. The group grew to
more than 100 laughing clubs across the country.
(WSJ, 9/12/96, p.B1)
1995 Nov, The Indian cabinet
agreed to change the name of Bombay, its biggest city, back to Mumbai.
Located in the state of Maharashtra, Mumbai is the financial and movie
center of India. Its movie industry is called Bollywood.
(WSJ, 11/22/95, p.A-3)
1995 Dec 23, A fire killed 540,
including 170 children, in Dabwali, India, 125 miles northwest of New
Delhi when a tent ignited during a year-end school party.
(WSJ, 12/26/95, p. A-1)(AP, 12/23/97)
1995 Dec, India began a
broad-based vaccination program against polio.
(SFEC, 1/26/97, p.A14)
1995 The film "Hum Apke Hain Kaun"
(What Am I To You) grossed a record $20.8 million.
(SFEC,12/14/97, DB p.62)
1995 In India the government in
New Delhi granted Ladakh Autonomous Hill Council status, recognizing
its unique culture and giving it some measure of self rule.
(SFEC,12/14/97, p.T4)
1995 Riots erupted in Bangalore,
India, when the 1st Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) opened in the city.
(WSJ, 11/7/05, p.A12)
1995 Ronnie Screwvala, founder of
India’s UTV software, started his UTV film studio.
(Econ, 2/9/08, p.72)
1995 Ratan Tata decided to enter
India’s passenger car market. The 1st Tata Motors car was produced in
1998.
(Econ, 4/2/05, p.53)
1995 Tulsi Tanti formed Suzlon
Energy in India. Suzlon Energy incorporated as a maker of wind
turbines. In 2005 he sold a minority of shares of shares in the wind
turbine company and joined the ranks of world billionaires. By 2007 it
was the largest such company in India and 5th largest in the world with
a major presence in China.
(Econ, 6/2/07, SR
p.19)(www.suzlon.com/about-us.htm)(WSJ, 4/18/08, p.A1)
1995 Shetty Sreenath built Asia’s
1st eco-friendly e-waste disposal facility in Bangalore, India. In 2007
Sreenath said “We’re sitting on an e-waste time bomb.”
(SFC, 3/30/07, p.A1)
1995 Lakshmi Mittal (b.1950),
India-born entrepreneur, transferred his steel firm's headquarters from
Indonesia to London, a city Mr Mittal rated as the world's financial
centre.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1820324.stm)
1995 India’s population was
around 900 million.
(WSJ, 11/20/95, p.A-1)
1996 Jan, A bomb killed at least
6 and injured 31 in a crowded New Delhi shopping bazaar. A Kashmiri
separatist group claimed responsibility.
(WSJ, 1/4/96, p.A-1)
1996 Jan, The leadership of
India's Maharashtra state cleared the multi-billion dollar Enron power
plant project.
(WSJ, 1/9/96, p.A-1)
1996 Apr 2, If the Indian Hindu
Nationalist Party wins elections, it will move toward testing a nuclear
bomb.
(WSJ, 4/2/96, p.A-1)
1996 Apr 22, Mahesh Chandar Mehta
was a Goldman Award winner for crusading against air and water
pollution in India.
(USAT, 4/22/96, p.4-D)
1996 Apr 27, As many as 590
million voters participated in elections for three days of balloting
held over nearly two weeks in India. It determined the pace of reforms
and served as a referendum on the recent corruption scandals.
(WSJ, 4/16/96, p.A-1)
1996 May 3, Chandraswami, aka Nemi
Chand Jain, faith healer and psychic admired by Elizabeth Taylor, was
held by police in New Delhi on charges of swindling $100,000 from a
London businessman.
(SFC, 5/4/96, p.A-10)
1996 May 13, The BJP and allies
held 181 seats, the Congress Party held 137 seats, and the National
front held 107 seats. The remainder to total 614 went to small regional
and independent groups.
(SFC, 5/13/96, p.A-8)
1996 May 14, Leftist and regional
Indian political parties formed a powerful coalition and settled on
H.D. Deve Gowda, chief minister of the southern state of Karnataka, as
the candidate for prime minister.
(SFC, 5/15/96, A-10)
1996 May 15, In India the BJP
parliamentary leader, A.B. Vajpayee, was named prime minister. Pres.
Shankar Dayal Sharma asked the new prime minister to form a coalition
government by May 31. The BJP wants to build a nuclear bomb and revoke
the autonomy of the disputed territory of Kashmir, India’s only
Muslim-majority state.
(WSJ, 5/16/96, p.A-1)
1996 May 17, Jaswant Singh was
appointed finance minister. He was highly regarded as a
pragmatist.
(WSJ, 5/17/96,p.A-10)
1996 May 18, The new defense
minister, Pramod Mahajan, said that military spending would be
increased and that India’s 350,000 member force in the Kashmir, bogged
down by Muslim insurgency, would be given "proper powers."
(SFC, 5/18/96, p.A-9)
1996 May 21, A bombing in New
Delhi, India, killed 25 people. Kashmiri separatists claimed
responsibility.
(WSJ, 5/22/96, p.A-1)
1996 May 28, The Hindu nationalist
government collapsed. An alliance of 13 parties was named to replace
it. H.D. Deve Gowda, leader of the left-of-center United Front, was
chosen as the next prime minister by ceremonial president, Shankar
Dayal Sharma. He had 2 weeks to form a new government.
(SFC, 5/29/96, p.A7)
1996 Jun 16, In India monsoon
rainstorms battered southern India for 3 days and killed at least 85
people with 250 missing.
(SFC, 6/16/96, p.A10)
1996 Jun, Torrential rains flooded
400 villages in the state of Rajasthan. Up to 500 people have died in
the monsoon season.
(SFC, 6/29/96, p.C1)
1996 Jul 15, In India 58 Hindu
pilgrims died in stampedes during religious festivals at Ujjain, 465
miles south of New Delhi, and Hardwar, 125 miles north.
(WSJ, 7/16/96, p.A1)
1996 Jul 27, In Kashmir, India, a
guard shot at 2 people who refused to move a motor scooter and a bomb
exploded that killed 6 and wounded 17 near the headquarters of a Muslim
group.
(WSJ, 7/29/96, p.A1)
1996 Jul 29, In Kashmir a grenade
exploded in a Muslim shrine that killed 2 and injured some 100 people.
(WSJ, 7/30/96, p.A1)
1996 Jul, 21 lower-caste villagers
were gunned down in Bihar by gunmen of Ranbir Sena.
(SFC, 12/3/97, p.A11)
1996 Aug 9, In India there was an
incident of food poisoning caused by Clostridium botulinum. 106 people
fell ill and 6 died after eating at a canteen in the town of
Bhiwandi, 80 miles north of Bombay.
(SFEC, 8/11/96, p.A20)
1996 Aug 14, In India police
arrested a kitchen worker in a food-poisoning incident that traced to
poisonous seeds.
(WSJ, 8/15/96, p.A1)
1996 Aug 17, It was reported that
tens of thousands of dead rats were caught in fisherman’s nets in
India’s northeast Assam state. It was speculated that a rare poisonous
bamboo flower was the cause.
(SFC, 8/17/96, p.A4)
1996 Aug 27, Plans were made to
amend the 1948 electricity laws to allow private companies to enter the
transmission sector and help shoulder the investment needed to satisfy
demand.
(WSJ, 8/27/96, p.A10)
1996 Sep 1, Wolves were reported
to have killed 33 children in the area of Banbirpur in the state of
Uttar Pradesh. Some reports had it that at least some of the killings
were by disguised human beings.
(SFC, 9/1/96, p.A16)
1996 Sep 16, The government issued
an arrest warrant for former communications minister Sukh Ram for
kickbacks in awarding contracts in 1993.
(WSJ, 9/17/96, p.A10)
1996 Sep 30, In India the capital
city of Tamil Nadu changed its name from Madras to Chennai after an
ancient ruler named Chenappa Naicker. It had been called Chennapatnam
or Chennai before British colonial rule.
(SFC, 10/1/96, p.A14)
1996 Oct 10, Today the reborn
Drepung Loseling Monastery in Karnataka state houses about 2,500
Buddhist monks.
(SFC, 10/10/96, p.E1)
1996 Nov 6-1996 Nov 7, In India
cyclone 07B killed some 2000 in Andhra Pradesh state. Damage was
estimated at $1.5 billion.
(WSJ, 11/8/96, p.A1)(SFC, 11/12/96,
p.A11)(www.emergency-management.net/cyclone.htm)
1996 Nov 12, Near New Delhi,
India, a Saudi Arabian Boeing 747 with 312 passengers crashed into a
Kazak Airlines Ilyushin Il-76 with 39 people in midair. It marked the
worst midair collision in aviation history and the 3rd deadliest air
crash. Investigators later claimed the Ilyushin II-76 failed to
maintain its assigned altitude. All 349 passengers and crew were killed.
(SFC, 11/13/96, p.A1)(SFC, 5/14/97, p.A12)(AP,
11/12/97)(WSJ, 11/13/01, p.A14)
1996 Nov 23, In Bangalore amidst
protests outside, Irene Skliva of Greece won the Miss World crown.
Police arrested some 1,650 over 2 days.
(SFEC, 11/24/96, p.A2)
1996 Nov 28, Chinese Pres. Jiang
Zemin made a 3-day visit to India, the first ever.
(SFC, 11/29/96, p.B8)
1996 Dec 2, India and China agreed
to troop withdrawals along their 2,500 mile border, and pledged not to
use military force against one another.
(SFC, 12/3/96, p.A13)
1996 Dec 2, A bomb on a train near
Chandigarh in the Punjab region killed 12 and injured 37.
(WSJ, 12/3/96, p.A1)
1996 Dec 24, In India a British
made Avro Air Force plane crashed in Andhra Pradesh and killed all 22
onboard.
(SFC, 12/25/96, p.A12)
1996 Dec 30, A bomb exploded on
the Brahmaputra Express train out of Gauhati in the state of Assam. 38
were killed. Bodo insurgents were suspected.
(SFC, 12/31/96, p.A10)
1996 Dec 31, A railroad bridge was
blown up in northeastern India in Assan.
(SFC, 1/1/97, p.C3)
1996 India outlawed sex
determination tests to reduce gender-based abortions.
(SFC, 12/6/02, p.J1)
1996 In Kerala a coalition of 2
left parties was elected. It was dominated by the Marxist Communist
Party of India.
(SFEM, 7/18/99, p.10)
c1996 A British arms dealer and 5
Latvians were arrested for dropping arms for revolutionaries into the
state of West Bengal. The 6 were sentenced to life in prison in 2000.
(SFC, 2/3/00, p.A13)
1997 Jan 2, Movie theaters in
Bombay closed in protest of a state doubling of the ticket tax. Some
120 films are produced annually and theaters provide about half the
funding.
(WSJ, 1/3/97, p.A6)
1997 Jan, The Madhya Pradesh state
government inaugurated its Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS), whereby
any community could have a school if it had 40 or more children living
over half a mile from an existing school.
(SFC, 3/4/99, p.A12)
1997 Feb 23, In eastern India a
fire in Baripada killed 190 worshippers at the 46th annual festival in
honor of the late Swami Nigamananda.
(SFC, 2/24/97, p.A10)(SFC, 2/25/97, p.a14)(AP,
2/23/98)
1997 Mar, The Indian film "Kama
Sutra: A Tale of Love" by Mira Nair was released in the US.
(SFEC, 3/2/97, DB p.32)
1997 Mar 13, Mother Teresa handed
over leadership of the Missionaries of Charity to Sister Nirmala (63).
(SFC, 3/14/97, p.A13)
1997 Mar, 10 lower-caste villagers
were gunned down in Haibaspur by higher-class gunmen.
(SFC, 12/3/97, p.A11)
1997 Apr 11, Parliament rejected
Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, head of the 10-month-old coalition
government by a vote of 292 to 158 in the 545-seat lower house,
the Lok Sabha. He was rejected after the Congress Party withdrew it
support. The Congress Party, which has ruled for 45 of the 50 years
since independence, complained that Gowda failed to halt gains by the
BJP (Bharatriya Janata Party).
(SFC, 4/12/97, p.A10)(SFC, 11/29/97, p.A12)
1997 Apr 19, Inder Kumar Gujral
was chosen to lead the United Front Coalition government. The Tamil
Manila Congress withdrew from the coalition.
(SFEC, 4/20/97, p.A14)
1997 May 21, In India an
earthquake killed at least 27. Its epicenter was near Jabalpur City,
about 400 miles southeast of New Delhi.
(SFC, 5/22/97, p.C4)
1997 Jun 7, Dozens died and 90
were injured in a fire during a religious festival at Thanjavur.
(WSJ, 6/9/97, p.A1)
1997 Jun 13, In India a fire in a
New Delhi theater killed 60 and injured over 200 people.
(SFC, 6/14/97, p.A12)
1997 Jul 7, Abdul Rashid Wani (30)
disappeared in Srinagar, Kashmir, while running an errand on the day of
his niece’s wedding.
(SSFC, 12/2/07, p.A17)
1997 Jul 8, A bomb exploded on a
passenger train in the Punjab at Bhatinda and killed 36 people and
wounded 70.
(SFC, 7/9/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 9, The Asian elephant
population was down to 60,000, half of them in India in an area of just
168,000 sq. miles.
(SFC, 7/9/97, p.A7)
1997 Jul 11, A riot broke out in
Bombay after a garland of shoes - a grave insult - was draped over a
bust of Babasaheb Ambedkar, a political leader from Hinduism’s lowest
caste. Police killed ten people including two children on their way to
school.
(SFC, 7/12/97, p.C1)
1997 Jul 17, In India Kocheril
Raman Narayannan, a member of the Dalits, was elected president by the
national and state legislatures. The Dalits, or "oppressed people,"
were according to Hinduism the lowest class of people, a fifth class
below the 4 main castes. He replaced Pres. Shanker Dayal Sharma whose
5-year term expired Jul 25.
(SFC, 7/18/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 25, In India Kocheril
Raman Narayannan (1920-2005) was sworn in as president, becoming the
first member of the "untouchable" Dalits caste to do so.
(AP, 7/25/98)(SFC, 11/10/05, p.B8)
1997 Aug 13, In India the Supreme
Court ordered the government to come up with legislation to protect
women from sexual harassment in the workplace.
(SFC, 8/14/97, p.C3)
1997 Aug 27, It was reported that
at least 945 people had died since June due to torrential monsoon rains.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.C3)
1997 Aug, In India A.R. Rahman
launched his first non-movie album "Vande Mataram" (Salute to the
Motherland) to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of independence
from Britain. He was the first Indian artist signed by Sony Records.
(SFEC,12/14/97, DB p.63)
1997 Sep 5, In India Mother Teresa
(b.1910), the Calcutta nun who worked on behalf of the destitute, died
of heart failure in Calcutta. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II broke the
royal reticence over Princess Diana's death, calling her "a remarkable
person" in a televised address. In 2003 Albania declared 2004 to be
"Mother Teresa Year" and set aside Oct. 19 as a national holiday in her
honor. "It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you
... yes, it is Christmas every time you smile at your brother and offer
him your hand."
(SFC, 9/6/97, p.A1)(AP, 9/5/98)(AP, 9/12/03)
1997 Sep 7, In the disputed
Kashmir region Indian and Pakistani gunners exchanged artillery fire
and 14 villagers on the Pakistani side were reported killed and 5 were
reported killed on the Indian side.
(WSJ, 9/8/97, p.A16)
1997 Sep 14, In India at least 77
people were killed when a train plunged from a bridge near Champa town
in the east of Madhya Pradesh state. Another 234 were injured.
(SFC, 9/15/97, p.A11)
1997 Sep 15, At the southeastern
port city of Visakhapatnam a fire raged at the Hindustan Petroleum
Corp. and 37 were reported dead.
(SFC, 9/16/97, p.A12)
1997 Sep, 30 people organizing
lower-caste villagers were killed by a rival group.
(SFC, 12/3/97, p.A1)
1997 Oct 14, The Booker Prize for
literature went to Indian writer Arundhati Roy for her book: "The God
of Small Things."
(SFC,10/15/97, p.D4)
1997 Nov 18, A school bus plunged
into the Yamuna River in New Delhi and at least 30 children were killed
and another 20 missing. The driver was reported to be racing another
bus.
(SFC,11/19/97, p.A14)
1997 Nov 19, A car bomb exploded
in Hyderabad at a gala kickoff for a new movie and 23 people were
killed. Police suspected rivals of producer Paritala Ravi, who is also
a lawmaker in Andhra Pradesh state.
(SFC,11/20/97, p.B7)
1997 Nov 20, S.V. Ramanna Reddy, a
former legislator of Andhra Pradesh, surrendered to police in relation
to the previous days bomb blast.
(SFC,11/21/97, p.D6)
1997 Nov 22, The Miss World
pageant in the Seychelles Islands was won by Diana Hayden (24), Miss
India.
(SFEC,11/23/97, p.A2)
1997 Nov 28, India’s 4th
government in 2 years collapsed. Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral
resigned and his United Front government fell after the Congress party
withdrew its support. India's powerful Congress Party withdrew its
support from India's ruling coalition, forcing Prime Minister Inder
Kumar Gujral to resign.
(WSJ, 11/29/97, p.A12) (AP, 11/28/98)
1997 Nov 30, Two bomb blasts in a
crowded New Delhi market left 3 dead and 62 injured.
(SFC, 12/1/97, p.A13)
1997 Dec 2, Lower caste villagers
of Lakshmanpur were attacked by some 300 armed men, who stabbed, shot
and killed 61 people including 4 children under age 5. The gunmen were
thought to be members of the Ranbir Sena paramilitary force, composed
of higher caste landlords.
(SFC, 12/3/97, p.A11)
1997 Dec 5, Explosions on 3
separate passenger trains left at least 10 dead and 64 injured in Tamil
Nadu and Kerala.
(SFC,12/6/97, p.A9)
1997 Dec 14, It was reported that
Bombay film studios churn out 900 features a year in Hindi and other
Indian languages at an average cost of $2.24 million.
(SFEC,12/14/97, DB p.62)
1997 In New Delhi the World
Fisheries Forum was founded by a group of owner-operated fishermen
whose aim was to push for human rights and social justice in the
fishing industry. In 1999 they met in Point Montara, California
(SFC, 10/9/99, p.A18)
1997 Phoolan Devi, the Bandit
Queen, was elected to Parliament representing the lower-caste Samajwadi
Party.
(SSFC, 8/5/01, p.A14)
1997 Pakistan’s Nawaz Sharif and
India’s Inder Kumar Gujral agreed to a process of dialogue, but
relations soured after the BJP came to power in India.
(Econ, 1/10/04, p.35)
1997 In India Laloo Prasad Yadav,
head of the RJD, stepped down as Bihar’s chief minister after his
arrest on corruption charges. Rabri Devi, Yadav’s wife, took over as
chief minister.
(Econ, 6/19/04, p.44)(Econ, 3/12/05, p.45)
1997 Naga tribesmen of
northeastern India agreed to a ceasefire after fighting the Indian army
for five decades.
(AP, 8/14/05)
1997 Mobile phones were introduced
in Kerala, India. By 2000 fisherman were using them to call coastal
markets while at sea to find the best price for their catch.
(Econ, 5/12/07, p.84)
1997 There were 12,953 train
robberies in India.
(WSJ, 3/9/99, p.A1)
1998 Jan 5, A train crash in Uttar
Pradesh killed at least 48 people.
(WSJ, 1/7/98, p.1)
1998 Jan 25, In Wandhama, north of
Srinagar, Muslim separatists killed 23 Hindus.
(SFC, 1/27/98, p.A10)
1998 Jan 28, In India the 26
people accused of the May 21, 1991 assassination of Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi were sentenced to death by hanging. Authorities braced for
possible unrest. Only 2 of the 26 were charged with murder, the rest
were charged with conspiracy.
(WSJ, 1/28/98, p.A1)(SFC, 1/29/98, p.A10)
1998 Jan 30, It was reported that
over the past 2 months over 50 cotton farmers in Andhra Pradesh state
had committed suicide due to farming losses caused by cluster
caterpillars.
(SFC, 1/30/98, p.A13)
1998 Jan, Masked gunmen killed 23
people in a village near Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and
Kashmir.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.D1)
1998 Feb 5, In Madhya Pradesh
state a tractor pulling a trolley full of children crashed into a truck
and plunged into a river and killed at least 34.
(SFC, 2/7/98, p.11)
1998 Feb 14, In India the Tamil
Nadu election campaign ended with bombings and riots in Coimbatore.
Some 13 bombs in 11 places took 46 lives.
(SFC, 2/16/98,
p.A11)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Coimbatore_bombings)
1998 Feb 16, In Bihar 20 people
were killed during the first round of voting.
(SFC, 2/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Feb 21, The governor in Uttar
Pradesh state ousted the Hindu nationalist government and protests
followed. The government was restored by a court a few days later.
(WSJ, 2/24/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 22, Clashes during voting
left 12 dead and over 40 injured across the country.
(SFC, 2/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Feb 23, In Andhra Pradesh
leftist guerrillas set off a mine that killed 5 soldiers sent to guard
polling stations.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A8)
1998 Feb 28, The elections came to
a close. The BJP built its campaign around candidate for prime minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (71). The Congress Party was led by Sonia Gandhi.
Jayaram Jayalalitha led the All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam
party in Tamil Nadu which won 18 seats in parliament. Jayalitha hoped
to have charges against her quashed and the government of Tamu Nidal
dismissed.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.A18)(SFEC, 4/18/99, p.A19)
1998 Mar 3, The BJP with regional
allies emerged as the largest grouping from the general election. It
was still 20 seats short of a governing majority in the 543-seat
parliament.
(FT, 3/4/98, p.1)
1998 Mar 10, In India 6 Tibetans
in New Delhi, aged 28-70, began a hunger strike to force the UN to
address Tibet’s dispute with China.
(SFC, 4/15/98, p.C2)
1998 Mar 14, India's Congress
party picked Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of assassinated prime
minister Rajiv Gandhi, as its new president.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.A13)(AP, 3/14/99)
1998 Mar 18, The Bharatiya Janata
Party agenda was outlined. It included plans to protect domestic
industry from foreign competition and to develop nuclear weapons for
protection against China and Pakistan.
(SFC, 3/19/98, p.A11)
1998 Mar 24, In India a tornado
killed 105 people and some 500 were missing. At least 80 died in the
Midnapore district of West Bengal state and some 1,100 were injured. At
least 200 people were killed and thousands injured from a tornado in
West Bengal and Orissa states.
(SFC, 3/25/98, p.C3)(SFC, 3/28/98, p.A5)
1998 Mar 28, The Hindu Nationalist
BJP won a confidence vote in parliament by a narrow margin, 274-261.
(SFEC, 3/29/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 27, The hunger strike
that began Mar 10 ended as police forced the Tibetan strikers to be fed
intravenously as Gen’l Fu Quanyou of China began talks with Indian
officials. One Tibetan exile set himself on fire and was not expected
to survive.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A6)
1998 Apr, The 68-acre Int’l. Tech
Park (ITP) in Bangalore was scheduled to open as a joint venture
between Singaporean companies, the Tata Group of India, and the state
of Karnataka.
(WSJ, 3/25/98, p.B10)
1998 Apr, Suspected separatist
guerrillas shot and killed 29 Hindus in the Jammu and Kashmir region.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.D1)
1998 May 11, India set off 3
underground atomic blasts in the Thar Desert in Rajasthan near the
Pakistan border, its first nuclear tests in 24 years. Abdul Kalam led
the teams of scientists who developed missiles designed for India’s
atomic warheads.
(WSJ, 5/12/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/11/99)(WSJ, 7/15/02,
p.A1)(Econ, 12/16/06, p.42)
1998 May 12, A day after India's
first atomic test blasts in 24 years, neighboring Pakistan said it was
ready to test a nuclear device itself.
(AP, 5/12/99)
1998 May 13, Pres. Clinton
announced sanctions against India for its nuclear test explosions. It
was later reported that the number and size of the weapons were
exaggerated.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A1)(SFC, 9/16/98, p.A1)
1998 May 13, India set off 2 more
nuclear explosions in defiance of int’l. condemnations.
(SFC, 5/14/98, p.A1)
1998 May 14, Australia, Canada,
Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden and the US all imposed
penalties on India for its nuclear testing. Pakistan was pressured to
refrain from testing its own nuclear weapons.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.A15)
1998 May 21, India announced a
moratorium on nuclear tests and restated a willingness to negotiate an
agreement on a formal test ban.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.D3)
1998 May 23, From India and
Pakistan it was reported that temperatures had reached 120 degrees and
claimed 34 lives. Most of the fatalities occurred in the southwestern
Indian state of Maharashtra.
(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A5)
1998 May 28, Pakistan matched
India and exploded five of its own underground nuclear tests in the
Chagai Hills. Pres. Clinton grimly denounced the tests and imposed
penalties that could cause Pakistan billions. It was later reported
that the number and size of the weapons were exaggerated.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A1,13) (SFC, 9/16/98, p.A1)(AP,
5/28/99)
1998 Jun 6, India reported that
1,359 people had died over the past 3 weeks due to the severe heat
wave. The death toll was raised to 2,500.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A4)(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 7, In Pakistan a bomb
exploded on a passenger train in the southern Sindh province near
Sukkur. 26 people were killed and 45 wounded. Pakistan later blamed the
Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). India denied involvement.
(SFEC, 6/7/98, p.A18)(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A12)(WSJ,
6/8/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 9, At least 205 people
were killed by a cyclone that hit on India’s western coast at
Porbunder. At least 15,000 people were forced to evacuate. The death
toll was increased to 420 and 150 people were missing. The death toll
was increased to 835.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A9)(WSJ, 6/11/98, p.A1)(SFC,
6/13/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 12, The G8 industrialized
nations agreed to halt all loans to India and Pakistan except those for
humanitarian purposes.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 13, In Bihar state Brij
Bihari Prasad, a former state minister in the Rashtriya Janata Party
(RJD), was killed along with his guard.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 14, In Bihar state Ajit
Kumar Sarkar was the 2nd legislator in 2 days to be killed by gunmen.
Two Sarkar supporters were also killed.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 19, Suspected separatist
guerrillas shot and killed 25 male members of 2 Hindu wedding parties
in Jammu and Kashmir state.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.D1)
1998 Jun 21, In India a deal was
signed in New Delhi with Russia to build power plants for two nuclear
reactors.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 23, Pakistan and India
agreed to negotiations in Sri Lanka. Their prime ministers would meet
during a South Asian summit starting Jul 29.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A12)
1998 Jul 3, In Indian-held Kashmir
Pakistani shelling forced over 2,000 villagers to flee and 7 people
were reported killed in Dawar.
(SFC, 7/4/98, p.A11)
1998 Jul 5, The government
announced that it would ban all lotteries.
(SFC, 7/6/98, p.A9)
1998 Jul 23, Russia planned to
sell its Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier to India for some $2
billion. The ship was launched in 1982 as the Baku.
(SFC, 7/24/98, p.D2)
1998 Jul 31, Talks between India
and Pakistan broke down following border fighting in Kashmir that
killed 50 people.
(SFC, 8/1/98, p.A10)
1998 Aug 3, In India 34 villagers
were killed in Himachal Pradesh state.
(SFC, 8/4/98, p.A12)
1998 Aug 5, In India 18 people
were killed under artillery fire in Kashmir.
(SFC, 8/6/93, p.A14)
1998 Aug 10, Fighting in Kashmir
resumed and 19 people were reported killed in battles between Indian
security forces and Pakistan-backed separatist rebels.
(WSJ, 8/11/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 17, India outlawed the
use of quinacrine to sterilize women due to its suspected effects as a
carcinogen.
(WSJ, 8/18/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 18, A flash flood swept
up some 100 Hindu pilgrims in Uttar Pradesh. 182 people were feared
dead.
(SFC, 8/19/98, p.C16)
1998 Aug 20, 30,000 people were
evacuated from 2 river valleys as landslides continued and the number
of dead increased to about 300.
(WSJ, 8/21/98, p.A1)
1998 Sep 4, Flooding and mudslides
in India was reported to have killed over 2,000 this year.
(WSJ, 9/4/98, p.A1)
1998 Sep 19, In Pakistani
controlled Kashmir Indian artillery fire killed 9 people and wounded 11
others over the last 2 days.
(SFEC, 9/20/98, p.A17)
1998 Sep 23, In Pakistan Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif said that he would sign the nuclear test ban
treaty within the year. Sharif also met with Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee of India and agreed to resume talks on Kashmir.
(SFC, 9/24/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 9/24/98, p.A1)
1998 Oct 14, Amartya K. Sen, a
researcher from India, won the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in
exploring the causes of poverty and famine. He had just left Harvard
Univ. to take over Trinity College in Cambridge, England.
(SFC, 10/15/98, p.A2)
1998 Nov 6, Pres. Clinton decided
to lift most of the sanctions against India and Pakistan for their
nuclear tests in May, as a reward for steps taken toward nuclear
control agreements.
(SFC, 11/7/98, p.A14)
1998 Nov 10, India and Pakistan
negotiated disputes as 3 Indian soldiers were killed in border fire
across the Kashmir cease-fire line.
(SFC, 11/13/98, p.D6)
1998 Nov 25, State elections were
held in Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, and Mizoram. Polls predicted
a setback for the ruling BJP.
(SFC, 11/26/98, p.B3)
1998 Nov 26, In the Punjab state
of India a passenger train derailed near Khanna in the path of an
express train in the northwest and at least 211 people were killed.
(SFC, 11/26/98, p.B5)(WSJ, 11/27/98, p.A1)(AP,
11/26/99)
1998 Nov 28, From India it was
reported that cyclone 07B caused the evacuation of over 100,000 people
in West Bengal and that some 100 fisherman were missing.
(SFC, 11/28/98, p.A4)
1998 Dec 20, Bangalore Venkata
Raman, a respected astrologer, died at age 86. He founded the
Astrological Magazine in 1936. He wrote some 200 books on the impact of
celestial bodies on human events.
(SFC, 12/25/98, p.B6)
1998 The book "Father India: How
Encounters with an Ancient Culture Transformed the Modern West" was
written by Jeffery Paine.
(SFEC, 12/13/98, p.)
1998 The India Bollywood film "Dil
Se" opened in the US.
(SFEC, 10/4/98, DB p.54)
1998 The film "The Red Doors" was
written and directed by Indian poet-novelist Buddhadeb Dasgupta. It was
about a Calcutta dentist who rethinks his self-absorbed life after his
marriage collapses.
(SFC, 5/20/98, p.E3)
1998 In India a Supreme court
ruling made MPs immune from prosecution for bribery.
(Econ, 12/9/06, p.48)
1998 The Lakireddy Bali Reddy
College of Engineering in Mylavaram, Andhra Pradesh was accredited and
opened to 420 students with a $50,000 construction and maintenance
donation from Lakireddy Bali Reddy.
(SFEC, 2/6/00, p.A12)(SFC, 2/8/00, p.A26)
1999 Jan 10, In New Delhi 3 rich
young men crashed into seven people standing along an empty street.
They were charged with barreling down a street and hitting 3 police
officers and 3 laborers while driving home after an all-night party in
what became called the BMW case . In 2008 a court convicted Sanjeev
Nanda (30), the son of a wealthy Indian arms dealer, of manslaughter
and sentenced him to 5 years in prison. 3 other defendants faced
charges of destroying evidence.
(SFC, 5/5/99, p.C5)(AP, 9/5/08)
1999 Jan 15, In southern India a
stampede by Hindu pilgrims left 51 dead after a hill collapsed near the
Sabarimala shrine.
(WSJ, 1/15/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 19, Indian and Pakistani
troops clashed in Kashmir and 4 Pakistani soldiers were killed.
(WSJ, 1/20/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 22, In Manoharpur, India,
Graham Stewart Stains (58), an Australian missionary, and his 2 sons
(10 & 8) were burned to death by activists of the radical Bajrang
Dal. Dara Singh led some 30 men in the attack. Singh was captured in
Jan 2000. In 2003 Mahendra Hembram (23), a security guard, stood by the
statement he gave in a lower court in 2002 that he burned the
missionary's jeep, killing the missionary and young sons as they slept.
In 2003 13 men were convicted for the murders.
(SFEC, 1/24/99, p.A14)(SFC, 2/2/00, p.A17)(AP,
3/24/03)(AP, 9/15/03)
1999 Jan 23, It was reported that
cold weather had killed 15 more people in the last 3 weeks in Uttar
Pradesh. Cold related conditions were responsible for some 150 deaths
across India.
(SFC, 1/23/99, p.C1)
1999 Jan 24, In India police
arrested 47 members of a Hindu militant group in Orissa state for the
burning of Graham Staines and his 2 sons.
(SFC, 1/25/99, p.A7)
1999 Jan, Tata Motors, known at
this time as Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (Telco), launched
the Tata Indica, a modern hatchback car with a diesel engine. It was
styled by IDEA in Italy.
(Econ, 11/15/08, SR p.9)
1999 Feb 1, In India officials
agreed to sign a nuclear test ban if economic sanctions are lifted.
(SFC, 2/1/99, p.A7)
1999 Feb 5, Ashok Jain, owner of
the Times of India, died at age 65. He was also a managing trustee of
the Bharatiya Jnanpith, an organization for the promotion of writing in
Indian languages and whose award is the most prestigious in India.
(SFC, 2/6/99, p.A21)
1999 Feb 11, In India a private
army of upper-caste landlords shot and killed 12 low-caste villagers in
Bihar.
(SFC, 2/12/99, p.A18)
1999 Feb 12, Pres. K.R. Narayanan
dismissed the state government of Bihar due to the recent killings.
(SFC, 2/13/99, p.A5)
1999 Feb 20, Prime Minister Atal
Behari Vajpayee of India rode to Pakistan by bus to meet with Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif for 2 days of talks.
(SFEC, 2/21/99, p.A17)
1999 Feb 21, The leaders of India
and Pakistan signed documents and a joint statement to reduce the risk
of nuclear war and to resolve conflicts in Kashmir.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A8)
1999 cMar 7, An Antonov 32 Indian
air force plane crashed near New Delhi airport killing all 18 onboard
and 3 people on the ground.
(WSJ, 3/8/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 9, The UN announced a
program for India to set up schools in the eastern Punjab to get
children out of the carpet weaving industry. The US planned to
contribute $2 million to the $2.9 million program.
(SFC, 3/10/99, p.A13)
1999 Mar 14, In India a fire swept
a New Delhi shantytown and at least 22 people were killed in the Vijay
Ghat district.
(SFC, 3/15/99, p.A9)
1999 Mar 16, The first passenger
bus service between India and Pakistan was scheduled to begin.
(SFEC, 3/14/99, p.A22)
1999 Mar 18, In India 35
upper-caste villagers of Senari in Bihar state were killed by members
of the Maoist Communist Center.
(SFC, 3/19/99, p.A14)
1999 Mar 29, In India at least 51
people were killed following a 6.8 earthquake in the Kumaon Hills in
Uttar Pradesh. The quake struck just after midnight and the death toll
rose to at least 87. The toll was raised to 110 at Chamoli on the
Alaknanda River.
(SFC, 3/29/99, p.A8)(WSJ, 3/30/99, p.A1)(SFC,
3/30/99, p.F2)(SFC, 3/31/99, p.A10)
1999 Apr 11, India tested a new
missile with a 1,250 mile range.
(SFC, 4/12/99, p.A12)
1999 Apr 17, In India the Hindu
nationalist government lost a vote of confidence by one vote. Prime
Minister Vajpayee gave his resignation to Pres. Narayanan but agreed to
stay on until a new government was formed. Sonia Gandhi of the
opposition Congress Party was to form the new government. Jayaram
Jayalalitha of the All-India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazagham Party broke
the coalition headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
(SFEC, 4/18/99, p.A1,19)
1999 Apr 19, India and Bangladesh
border guards had a shootout that left 6 people dead and 60 wounded.
(WSJ, 4/20/99, A1)
1999 Apr 22, In eastern India
upper-caste landlords, members of the Ranbir Sena militia, killed 12
Dalits (oppressed ones or broken people) in the village of Sindani. It
was believed to be a retaliation for the Mar 18 massacre in Bihar.
(SFC, 4/23/99, p.D3)
1999 Apr 24, In India high
temperatures over the past week in several states killed at least 40
people with 28 dead in Orissa.
(SFC, 4/26/99, p.A15)
1999 Apr 26, In India Pres.
Narayanan dissolved the lower house of Parliament in order to call for
new elections.
(SFC, 4/27/99, p.A10)
1999 Apr 30, In New Delhi Jessica
Lal (34), a former model and bartender, was shot and killed by a gunman
identified as Manu Sharma (24), son of politician and hotel chain owner
Vinod Sharma.
(SFC, 5/5/99, p.C5)
1999 May 17, In India Sonia Gandhi
stepped down as president of the Congress Party after several party
leaders complained of her Italian birth.
(SFC, 5/18/99, p.C12)
1999 May 20, In Pakistan a cyclone
struck the Arabian Sea coast and left an estimated 700 people missing,
many of whom were presumed dead. Residents said that as many as 3,500
people were missing. Some 92 bodies of Indians were recovered from the
cyclone that hit the Pakistani coast by May 27. The number of bodies of
Indian fisherman found reached 278 on Jun 2.
(SFC, 5/21/99, p.A13)(SFC, 5/22/99, p.A16)(SFC,
6/3/99, p.C4)
1999 May 24, In India Sonia Gandhi
decided to withdraw her resignation as president of the Congress Party.
(SFC, 5/25/99, p.A6)
1999 May 24, Guru Hanuman (99),
wrestling teacher, died from a car accident in Rithani. He had
established 1200 wrestling centers in India.
(SFC, 5/26/99, p.C8)
1999 May 25, India launched air
strikes in the disputed mountains of the Kargil and Drass regions of
Kashmir against suspected Pakistani infiltrators. Gen Musharraf was
later identified as the architect of Pakistan’s (July) Kargil campaign.
(SFC, 5/26/99, p.C2)(SFC, 5/27/99, p.A13)(SSFC,
1/6/02, p.A14)
1999 May 26, India launched a
rocket carrying South Korean and German satellites into orbit.
(WSJ, 5/27/99, p.A1)
1999 May 27, India lost 2 fighter
jets, a MiG-21 and a MiG-27, to Pakistani fire on the Pakistani
side of Kashmir. Pakistan promised to return one dead pilot and to hold
the other as hostage.
(SFC, 5/28/99, p.A12)
1999 May 27, Some 92 bodies were
recovered from the cyclone that hit the Pakistani coast on May 20. The
bodies of 278 Indian fisherman were found Jun 2 on the western coast.
(SFC, 6/3/99, p.C4)
1999 May 28, In the Kashmir border
conflict Muslim guerrillas shot down a Indian helicopter and 4
Indian soldiers were killed. Pakistan offered to hold peace talks with
India.
(SFC, 5/29/99, p.A10)(SFC, 5/31/99, p.A10)
1999 May 30, In Kashmir Indian
fighter jets pounded militants in the Kargil sector for the 5th day.
(SFC, 5/31/99, p.A10)
1999 May 31, India agreed to hold
talks with Pakistan over Kashmir, but there was no let up in the Indian
offensive against guerrillas.
(SFC, 6/1/99, p.A8)
1999 Jun 1, Pakistani authorities
said 10 school children were killed by an Indian artillery shell that
his a school near the Line of Control dividing India and Pakistan in
Kashmir. India claimed to have killed 470 Muslim fighters and Pakistani
soldiers. In Kargil Pakistani forces shelled for the 26th consecutive
day.
(SFC, 6/2/99, p.C2)
1999 Jun 2, In Kashmir Islamic
guerrillas rejected India's offer of safe passage out of the battle
zone.
(SFC, 6/3/99, p.C4)
1999 Jun 3, Pakistan freed Indian
fighter pilot, Flight Lt. Nachiketa, as a good will gesture.
(SFC, 6/4/99, p.D2)
1999 Jun 5, India rejected
proposed talks with Pakistan for Jun 7 as inconvenient. Indian Gen'l.
Chopra estimated 200 intruders had been killed and said 54 Indian
soldiers were killed.
(SFEC, 6/6/99, p.A22)
1999 Jun 6, India resumed air
strikes in Kashmir as troops pushed back guerrillas occupying disputed
territory.
(SFC, 6/7/99, p.A11)
1999 Jun 8, India and Pakistan
agreed to hold talks on Kashmir Jun 11, while India continued
airstrikes and a ground offensive.
(WSJ, 6/8/99, p.A1)
1999 Jun 9, The Pakistan army
handed over to India the bodies of 6 severely mutilated Indian soldiers.
(SFEC, 6/20/99, p.C4)
1999 Jun 12, It was reported that
all 15,000 glaciers of the Himalayas were melting at an alarming rate
and that torrential floods in Northern India could result over the next
40 years.
(SFC, 6/12/99, p.A11)
1999 Jun 12, India and Pakistan
met for talks on Kashmir with little success as each blamed the other
for the insurgency.
(SFEC, 6/13/99, p.A13)
1999 Jun 13, Pakistan accused
India of using chemical weapons in its Kashmir offensive, as India
claimed to have captured a key mountain peak.
(WSJ, 6/14/99, p.A1)
1999 Jun 16, Pakistan admitted
deep involvement on the Kashmir border war with India.
(SFC, 6/17/99, p.C3)
1999 Jun 18, It was reported that
the black sands of Kergala on the Arabian Sea contained such
radioactive materials as thorium, uranium and monazite. The incidence
of cancer in the region was reported to be the same as the rest of the
state with 300 new cases per year.
(SFC, 6/18/99, p.D2)
1999 Jun 21, Indian soldiers
cleared Islamic guerrillas from a 2nd Kashmir mountain outpost, Point
5203, and killed at least 10 guerrillas.
(SFC, 6/22/99, p.A12)
1999 Jun 26, Pakistan gave tacit
admission that its fighters were involved in the Kashmir region against
Indian forces. India claimed to have lost 5 men and that 4 infiltrators
were killed. Islamabad claimed that an offensive was repulsed and that
12 Indian soldiers were killed.
(SFEC, 6/27/99, p.A23)
1999 Jun 29, In Kashmir Indian
fighters raided 13 guerrilla positions at Point 4700 and at least 40
people were killed, 25 of them Indians.
(SFC, 6/30/99, p.A9)
1999 Jul 2, The Pakistani army
reported that 58 Kashmiri civilians had been killed and 158 wounded
over the last 2 month by Indian shelling.
(SFC, 7/3/99, p.A9)
1999 Jul 4, Pakistani PM Nawaz
Sharif met with Pres. Clinton and announced that it would abandon its
seized positions in Kashmir. Meanwhile India claimed a victory at Tiger
Hill.
(SFC, 7/5/99, p.A8)
1999 Jul 6, In Kashmir fighting
continued despite a US-Pakistan pact to push for peace. India reported
55 mercenaries killed along with 9 Indian soldiers.
(SFC, 7/7/99, p.A10)
1999 Jul 10, In India the prime
minister said most of the Pakistani soldiers had been cleared out of
the Indian side of Kashmir.
(SFEC, 7/11/99, p.A26)
1999 Jul 11, In India and Pakistan
top commanders agreed to the withdrawal of Islamic militants from
Kashmir along with a complete cease fire.
(SFC, 7/12/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 1, Nirad C. Chaudhuri
(b.1897), Indian-born author and scholar, died at age 101 in Oxford,
England.
(SFC, 8/3/99, p.A20)(WSJ, 8/10/99, p.A24)
1999 Aug 2, In India the
Brahmputra Mail train from Gauhati collided with the Awadh-Assam
Express from New Delhi at Gaisan Station. Over 285 people were killed
and a 1000 injured. A faulty switch was suspected.
(SFC, 8/3/99, p.A8)(SFC, 8/4/99, p.A9)(SFC,
8/5/99, p.A14)(AP, 2/18/04)
1999 Aug 4, In Kashmir 4 days of
fighting left at least 50 people dead including 32 militants and 7
Indian soldiers.
(SFC, 8/6/99, p.A16)
1999 Aug 10, An Indian jet shot
down a Pakistani naval reconnaissance plane over the disputed Sir Creek
area. All 16 people in the plane were killed.
(www.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9908/10/india.pak.plane.01/index.html)
1999 Aug 14, Separatist rebels in
India killed at least 7 people in Kashmir and Assam attacks on Pakistan
Independence Day.
(WSJ, 8/16/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 17, Pakistan said 6
soldiers and 2 civilians were killed in shelling by India.
(WSJ, 8/18/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug, The population of India
crossed the 1 billion mark.
(SFC, 8/6/99, p.A16)
1999 Sep 1, In Kashmir Pakistani
soldiers attacked Indian posts over the last 2 days and left 22
soldiers dead.
(SFC, 9/2/99, p.A16)
1999 Sep 5, In India month long
staggered elections for a new parliament began. 6 party activists were
killed on the 1st day of elections. India had 543 parliamentary
districts.
(SFC, 9/4/99, p.A14)(SFC, 9/6/99, p.A13)(SFEC,
9/19/99, p.A22)
1999 Sep 11, In India violence was
reported across the country as 77 million people chose members of
parliament in the 2nd part of a staggered 5 day poll. In Maharashtra
state Sharad Leve of the opposition National Congress was killed in an
attack by 30 BJP activists in Satara.
(SFEC, 9/12/99, p.A10)
1999 Sep 18, In India poll
violence left 44 people dead.
(WSJ, 9/20/99, p.A1)
1999 Sep 25, In India 2 government
ministers were arrested in Bihar and 4 people were killed amid reports
of large-scale election fraud during the 4th round of voting.
(SFEC, 9/26/99, p.A26)
1999 Sep 26, In India separatist
guerrillas of the National Liberation Front of Tripura ambushed and
killed 8 soldiers in the northeastern Dhalai district of Tripura.
(SFC, 9/27/99, p.A18)
1999 Sep, In Orissa state Catholic
Father Arul Doss was shot with arrows and beaten to death.
(SFC, 11/6/99, p.A10)
1999 Oct 1, It was reported that
the Royal Bengal tigers of India had declined from some 40,000 in 1900
to as few as 2,500. The government estimated 5,500.
(SFC, 10/1/99, p.A15)
1999 Oct 2, In India 6 people,
including 4 police personnel, were killed as national elections began
in Tripura state.
(SFEC, 10/3/99, p.A23)
1999 Oct 3, In India the elections
ended and the Bharatiya Janata Party under PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee was
expected to return to power with an alliance of 21 other parties. The
BJP was expected to gain 34 seats to 287. The BJP won a projected 296
of 545 seats. The Congress Party won 114 seats.
(SFC, 10/4/99, p.A12)(WSJ, 10/4/99, p.A1)(WSJ,
10/8/99, p.A1)(Econ, 4/4/09, p.45)
1999 Oct 18, Mahanambrata
Brahmachari, a Hindu scholar, died in Calcutta at age 95. He influenced
the Catholic monk Thomas Merton.
(SFC, 11/2/99, p.A26)
1999 Oct 19, In eastern India
residents of the state of Orissa cleaned up after a cyclone killed at
least 79 people and injured over 1000.
(SFC, 10/20/99, p.B3)
1999 Oct 25, In Kashmir Indian
troops killed 4 Pakistani soldiers with artillery and small arms in the
mountainous Uri sector.
(SFC, 10/27/99, p.C2)
1999 Oct 29, In eastern India
hundreds of people in Orissa state and the Bay of Bengal region were
feared dead from 05B, the 2nd cyclone in 2 weeks. The number of dead
was estimated to reach 3,000 and 1.5 million people were homeless. The
official dead toll reached 924 on Nov 4. At least 8,000 people were
killed around the port city of Paradeep, where the storm made first
landfall. The death toll was predicted to climb past 10,000. 9,813
death were recorded and the government stopped free rice distribution
after about 3 weeks.
(SFC, 10/30/99, p.A14)(SFC, 11/1/99, p.A11)(SFC,
11/5/99, p.D4)(SFC, 11/6/99, p.A24)(SFC, 11/10/99, p.A11)(SFC,
11/25/99, p.D6)
1999 Nov 2, In India the death
toll mounted from the cyclone in Orissa state with disease, lawlessness
and vandalism on the rise. There was no power in the capital of
Bhubaneswar and Cuttack was in ruins.
(SFC, 11/3/99, p.C2)
1999 Nov 3, Kashmiri guerrillas
killed an army major and 5 others at Indian army headquarters in
Srinagar.
(SFC, 11/4/99, p.A18)
1999 Nov 5, Pope John Paul II
began a 3 day visit to New Delhi, India.
(SFC, 11/5/99, p.A15)(WSJ, 11/5/99, p.A1)
1999 Nov 6, During his visit to
India, Pope John Paul the Second praised Christian missionaries and
exhorted his bishops to spread the Christian message across Asia.
(AP, 11/6/00)
1999 Nov 11, In India a bomb
exploded on a passenger train traveling from Jammu to New Delhi and 14
people were killed with 50 injured.
(SFC, 11/12/99, p.D2)
1999 Nov 15, In India at least 18
people were reported killed in Panchabatin village in the state of
Tripura by separatist guerrillas.
(SFC, 11/16/99, p.E4)
1999 Nov 19, In Hyderabad, India
(Reuters), an outbreak of Japanese encephalitis has killed 133 people,
all of them children, in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh,
health officials said after reporting 10 new deaths.
(Excite, 11/20/99)
1999 Dec 14, In Jammu-Kashmir,
India, at least 6 people were killed in clashes between secessionist
guerrillas and security forces.
(SFC, 12/15/99, p.B3)
1999 Dec 24, In Nepal 5 Sikh men,
members of the Kashmir Harakut ul-Mujahedin, hijacked an Indian
Airlines A-300 Airbus with 189 people onboard. After 3 stops for
refueling it landed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where it was surrounded
by Taliban militia. 26 passengers were released in Dubai. They called
for the release of Maulana Massood Azhar, a Pakistani religious leader
and other Kashmiri militants. They later raised their demands to $200
million, the release of 35 jailed guerrillas and the exhumation of a
dead comrade buried in India. [see Dec 29]
(SFC, 12/25/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 12/27/99, p.A1)(SFC,
12/28/99, p.A9)(SFC, 12/29/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/14/01, p.A5)
1999 Roberto Calasso's work "Ka:
Stories of the Mind and Gods of India" was translated to English by Tim
Parks. Calasso, head of the Milan publishing house Adelphi, also
authored "The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony" and "The Ruin of Kasch."
(SFEC, 1/17/99, BR p.8)
1999 Arundhati Roy authored her
essay "The Greater Common Good," which argued that big dams take water,
land and irrigation away from the poor and benefit the rich.
(SFC, 1/17/02, p.A9)
1999 The historical drama film
"Earth" starred Aamir Khan, Nandita Das and Maia Sethna and was written
and directed by Deepa Mehta. It was set in the time of Indian
independence.
(SFC, 9/24/99, p.C3)
1999 In Gujarat state 51 Christian
churches and prayer halls were burned to the ground over a period of
weeks.
(SFC, 11/6/99, p.A10)
1999 In India Jessica Lall, a
young New Delhi bartender, was shot and killed this summer by Manu
Sharma (24), after she refused him a drink at closing time. On Feb 21,
2006, Sharma the son of a powerful and wealthy politician with
interests in sugar mills, and 8 friends were acquitted. Protesters took
to the streets, holding candlelight vigils and waving signs calling for
justice; officials from the president to the capital's police chief
called for a review of the investigation.
(AP, 3/10/06)
1999-2008 India grew at an average annual rate of
7.3%.
(Econ, 12/13/08, SR p.8)
2000 Jan 4, In Srinagar, Kashmir,
13 people and a horse were blown up in an explosion set by insurgents
in a vegetable market used by Indian troops.
(SFC, 1/22/00, p.A10)
2000 Jan 10, India agreed to
dismantle its largest single barrier to agriculture, textile and
consumer product imports in a deal negotiated with the US. India agreed
to lift over 1,400 specific restrictions, half of which would be
implemented within 3 months.
(WSJ, 1/10/00, p.A2)
2000 Feb, Alla Rakha, the world's
best known tabla player, died in Bombay at age 80 just hours after the
death of his daughter, Razia (51).
(WSJ, 2/9/00, p.A24)
2000 Feb 10, In Jammu-Kashmir a
train explosion killed at least 5 people. In northern Kashmir gunmen
burst into 2 homes in Pattan village and killed 6 people with 3 wounded.
(SFC, 2/11/00, p.D2)
2000 Feb 18, In Kashmir a land
mine killed 10 police officers in Tral. Another 6 were seriously
wounded. Militants for independence or union with Pakistan claimed
responsibility.
(SFC, 2/19/00, p.C1)
2000 Feb 25, Pakistan accused
India that soldier had crossed the border of Pakistan-controlled
Kashmir and killed 14 civilians.
(SFC, 2/28/00, p.C2)
2000 Feb 27, India claimed that
Pakistani soldiers had crossed the cease-fire line and killed one
Indian officer and 6 other soldiers. Police reported that separatist
rebels killed a public-works minister and 4 others with a
remote-controlled device in Assam
(SFC, 2/28/00, p.C2)
2000 Feb 29, In India the
government announced a 28.2% increase in military spending, tax
increase on higher income people and cuts in government payroll.
(SFC, 3/1/00, p.A13)
2000 Mar 5, In India supporters of
the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) went on a rampage in Patna after their
party was dislodged from elections in Bihar ed by the National
Democratic Alliance. 2 people died and thousands were jailed.
(SFC, 3/6/00, p.A12)
2000 Mar 19, Pres. Clinton arrived
in India for the start of a 6 day trip.
(WSJ, 3/20/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar 20, In Kashmir gunmen
massacred 35 Sikhs in Chati Sionghpura Mattan.
(SFC, 3/21/00, p.A12)
2000 Mar 21, Pres. Clinton began a
5 day stay in India. India rejected his call for further curbs in the
nuclear program.
(SFC, 3/21/00, p.A14)(SFC, 3/22/00, p.A11)
2000 Apr 4, In India 532 rebels of
the United Liberation Front of Assam turned in their weapons and gave
up their struggle for independence. Some 2000 fighters still remained
in the jungles of Assam. Over 5,000 people had been killed in the
front’s campaign since 1979.
(SFC, 4/5/00, p.A11)
2000 Apr 25, In India it was
reported that some 50 million people faced severe drought in Rajasthan
and Gujarat.
(SFC, 4/25/00, p.A12)
2000 Jun 17, Upper-class militia
stormed Miapur village in Bihar state and massacred 34 women, children
and old men. The attack was in retribution for the murder of 12
upper-caste farmers five days earlier, which in turn was preceded by
the murder of 5 low-caste Yadavs. Police later arrested 11
landlord-paid militiamen.
(SFEC, 6/18/00, p.A12)(WSJ, 6/19/00, p.A1)
2000 Jul 4, The Cabinet rejected a
demand for political autonomy by the Kashmir state legislature.
(SFC, 7/5/00, p.A12)
2000 Jul 12, In India at least 71
people were killed after part of Balbati Hill collapsed in eastern
Bombay. The death toll from monsoon rains over 2 days reached 135 for
Maharashtra and Gujarat states.
(SFC, 7/13/00, p.C4)(SFC, 7/14/00, p.D2)(SFC,
7/15/00, p.A13)
2000 Jul 17, In India an Alliance
Air Boeing 737 jet with 58 people caught fire and crashed into two
homes just before landing at Patna airport. 7 people survived and
another 4 were killed on the ground. A total of 56 people were killed
on board and on the ground.
(SFC, 7/17/00, p.A15)(SFC, 7/18/00, p.A12)(AP,
7/17/01)
2000 Jul 30, In Kashmir a
Pakistan-based rebel group opposed to a cease-fire attacked Indian
security forces and killed at least 3 soldiers.
(SFC, 8/1/00, p.A10)
2000 Jul 30, In Tamil Nadu film
star Rajkumar and 3 companions were kidnapped by Veerappan and his
gang. Veerappan was accused of killing at least 130 police officers and
had eluded capture for 18 years. On Aug 6 the governments of Tamil Nadu
and Karnataka agreed to met rebel the kidnapper’s demands.
(SFC, 8/5/00, p.A11)(SFC, 8/7/00, p.A14)
2000 Jul, The "Kaun Banega
Crorepati" TV show (Who Wants To Be a 10 Millionaire) began based on
the American Millionaire show. Amitabh Bachchan (58) served as the host
with the top prize of 10 million rupees ($230,000).
(SFC, 9/4/00, p.G4)
2000 Aug 2, In Kashmir the death
toll from guerrilla attacks climbed to 101.
(SFC, 8/3/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 2, In India rain in Tibet
flooded the Sutlej River in India and drowned at least 107 people in
Himachal Pradesh state.
(SFC, 8/3/00, p.A13)
2000 Aug 8, In northeastern Assam
state flash floods and mudslides left at least 80 people dead and 2
million homeless.
(SFC, 8/9/00, p.A14)
2000 cAug 14, In India a
train bombing in Uttar Pradesh killed 7 people and injured dozens.
Pakistani agents were blamed.
(WSJ, 8/15/00, p.A1)
2000 Aug 17, India opened its
first fashion show in Mumbai, Lakme India Fashion Week.
(http://lifestyle.indianetzone.com/fashion/1/lakme_india_fashion_week_(lifw).htm)
2000 Aug 21, In Kashmir Muslim
guerrillas used booby traps to kill 5 Indian soldiers, while Indian
security forces killed 8 people believed to be part of the separatist
movement. Indian shelling into the Pakistani controlled side killed a
man and an 8-year-old girl. In Jachil Dhara guerrilla set explosives
killed an Indian general and a colonel.
(SFC, 8/22/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 24, It was reported that
49 people were killed following torrential rains in Andhra Pradesh.
(SFC, 8/25/00, p.D8)
2000 Aug 24, India and Pakistan
traded accusations over a clash in Kashmir. India claimed that 10
Pakistani fighters were killed, while Pakistan said 2 were killed.
(SFC, 8/25/00, p.D8)
2000 Sep 17, In India 7 people
were killed after police opened fire in Ahmadabad in Gujarat state
following mob violence during municipal elections.
(SFC, 9/18/00, p.A9)
2000 Sep 18, Rain and melting snow
began to force the overflow of rivers such as the Ganges, Hoogly,
Bhagirathi and others.
(SFC, 9/29/00, p.A20)
2000 Sep 21, In West Bengal the
release of water from 2 dams left tens of thousands of people stranded.
Floods following torrential rains killed at least 59 people.
(WSJ, 9/22/00, p.A1)
2000 Sep 24, In India 6 days of
rain left 370 people dead or missing.
(WSJ, 9/25/00, p.A1)
2000 Sep 28, Some 1,000 people
were killed following 10 days of torrential rains.
(SFC, 9/29/00, p.A20)
2000 Oct 1, In India officials in
West Bengal state said 997 people had died due to flooding over the
past 3 weeks. 45 people were reported killed in Bangladesh.
(SFC, 10/2/00, p.A14)
2000 Oct 23, In India at least 16
people were killed in 2 attacks in Assam state. Police blamed the
United Liberation Front of Asom. Over 10,000 people have been killed
since the group began its campaign 2 decades ago. [see Apr 4, 2000]
(SFC, 10/24/00, p.A16)
2000 Nov 6, Buddhadeb
Bhattacharjee (b.1944), poet and playwright, became the chief minister
of India’s West Bengal state.
(Econ, 11/24/07,
p.74)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhadeb_Bhattacharya)
2000 Nov 6 In India a mob of
Sunnis attacked Shiites in the market area of Mubarakpur in Uttar
Pradesh state and 13 people were killed.
(SFC, 11/7/00, p.B2)
2000 Nov 7, Chidambaram
Subramaniam, the political architect of India’s "green revolution,"
died at age 90. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, the nation’s highest
civilian prize, in 1998.
(SFC, 11/11/00, p.A26)
2000 Nov 13, In India about 1000
people demonstrated in New Delhi against the building of some 3,000
dams across the Narmada Valley and 3 Indian states.
(SFC, 11/14/00, p.A17)
2000 Nov 15, The bandit Veerappan
released the movie idol Rajkumar (72) after 109 days.
(SFC, 11/16/00, p.A15)
2000 Nov 19, India announced a
1-month unilateral cease-fire in Kashmir.
(SFC, 11/20/00, p.A9)
2000 Nov 22, In Kashmir Islamic
militants assaulted 2 Indian military positions and killed several
soldiers. 3 militants were also reported killed.
(SFC, 11/23/00, p.D6)
2000 Nov 28, In Kashmir Muslim
separatists attacked Indian forces and 12 people were killed.
(SFC, 11/29/00, p.A18)
2000 Dec 2, Two trains collided at
Sarai Banjara in the Punjab and at least 46 people were killed.
(SFC, 12/4/00, p.E2)
2000 Dec 4, The Indian military
was attacked twice by suspected Islamic guerrillas and at least 5
people were killed. In Kashmir a bus carrying police officers fell into
a gorge at Baithi Chashma in the Donda district and at least 27
officers were killed.
(SFC, 12/5/00, p.A15)
2000 Dec 4, Pakistan said it won’t
insist to being party to Indian peace talks with Kashmiri separatists
but that it must be a party to the final settlement.
(WSJ, 12/5/00, p.A1)
2000 Dec 7, Indigenous rebels
massacred 30 Hindi-speaking people in Assam state.
(SSFC, 12/17/00, p.T10)
2000 Dec 20, India and Pakistan
took steps to reduce tensions in Kashmir. India extended its cease-fire
and Pakistan announced a partial troop withdrawal.
(SFC, 12/21/00, p.A20)
2000 Dec 22, Separatists attacked
the Red Fort in New Delhi and 3 people were killed.
(WSJ, 12/26/00, p.A1)
2000 Dec 25, In Kashmir a
car bomb went off in Indian controlled Srinagar and 8 people were
killed with 23 injured. The Pakistan-based rebel groups Jamaat-ul
Mujahedeen and Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility.
(SFC, 12/26/00, p.C4)(WSJ, 12/26/00, p.A1)
2000 The book "India: A Mosaic,"
was edited by Robert B. Silvers and Barbara Epstein.
(SFEC, 3/26/00, BR p.3)
2000 The Sardar Sarovar Dam
project was resumed following a Supreme court ruling. Construction had
halted in 1995 with the dam at 263 feet. The final height was to be 452
feet. 500,000 people were expected to be displaced.
(SFC, 1/17/02, p.A9)
2000 India converted 8 export
processing zones, which dated back to 1965, to special economic zones
(SEZs), where streamlined procedures, tax breaks and good
infrastructure lured investors to export oriented industries.
(Econ, 10/14/06, p.45)
2000 In India lawmaker Shibu Soren
led a movement that culminated in the new eastern state of Jharkhand
being hived off from Bihar. His people, the impoverished indigenous
forest-dwelling tribe members known as Adivasis, occupied the lowest
rungs of India's complex social ladder, but formed a majority.
(AP, 12/7/06)(Econ, 12/9/06, p.48)
2000 Arun Shourie, a former
journalist, was appointed minister of disinvestment and assigned to
sell off some 250 state-owned companies.
(WSJ, 1/9/04, p.A1)
2000 Indiabulls, a security firm
in Mumbai, was founded by 3 Indian engineers. The company went public
in Sep. 2004.
(Econ, 8/27/05, p.57)
2001 Jan 3, On the India-Pakistan
border 4 Indian soldiers and 2 civilians were killed at the border post
of Arhayee Mandi.
(SFC, 1/4/01, p.A12)
2001 Jan 4, India test flew its
1st locally developed jet fighter.
(WSJ, 1/05/01, p.A1)
2001 Jan 9, The Mahakumbha Mela
(Pitcher Festival), the world’s largest religious festival, opened in
Allahabad at the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers.
The festival dated back to the 10th century and 65 million people were
expected.
(SSFC, 1/7/01, p.T3)(SSFC, 1/14/01, p.D8)
2001 Jan 16, In Kashmir 11 people
died when militants attacked the airport at Srinagar. The
Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba guerrillas claimed responsibility. The
group was later banned in Pakistan but reappeared under the name
Jamaat-ud-Dawa.
(SFC, 1/17/01, p.A11)(Econ, 7/29/06, p.39)
2001 Jan 23, India extended its
cease-fire in Kashmir for a 3rd month.
(WSJ, 1/24/01, p.A1)
2001 Jan 26, A 7.9 (7.7)
earthquake hit India and Pakistan as India prepared to celebrate
Republic Day. It was an intraplate earthquake along a thrust fault 300
miles south of the boundary between the Indo-Australian and Eurasian
Plates. Some 20,000-50,000 people were killed and over 14,000 injured
across Gujarat state. 10 people were reported killed in Pakistan. The
quake caused an underground river, either the Saraswati or Indus, to
reappear that had disappeared in a 19th century quake. [see Jan 31]
(SFC, 1/26/01, p.A16)(SFC, 1/27/01, p.A1)(WSJ,
1/29/01, p.A1)(SFC, 2/17/01, p.D8)(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.R12)
2001 Jan 31, The death count from
the 7.7 earthquake reached 12,000 and an additional 13,000 were
believed still buried. The final death count was set to 15,537 in June.
(SFC, 2/1/01, p.A9)(SFC, 6/14/01, p.C3)
2001 Jan, At least 10,000 monkeys
occupied government offices in New Delhi, where they shredded documents
and threatened workers.
(SFC, 1/13/01, p.D8)
2001 Feb 1, The earthquake death
toll estimates rose to between 35-50 thousand with injuries to over
60,000. the damages in Gujarat state were estimated at $4.5 billion.
(WSJ, 2/2/01, p.A1)(SSFC, 2/4/01, p.A14)
2001 Feb 6, In India the Cipla
Ltd. Corp. of Bombay offered to supply triple-therapy anti-AIDS
cocktails to Doctors Without Borders in Africa for $350 per year per
patient.
(SFC, 2/7/01, p.A12)
2001 Feb 22, India extended a
Kashmir cease-fire.
(WSJ, 2/23/01, p.A1)
2001 Mar 12, Bangaru Laxman,
president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, resigned following video taped
images of bribery.
(SFC, 3/14/01, p.C12)
2001 Mar 15, Defense minister
George Fernandes resigned in a corruption scandal.
(SFC, 3/16/01, p.A16)
2001 cMar 19, Hindu fundamentalist
burned a Koran in Delhi to protest the Afghan destruction of Buddhist
statues.
(SSFC, 4/1/01, p.T12)
2001 cMar 20, Police clashed with
Muslims in Kanpur and 14 people were killed. The Muslims protested the
Koran burning in Delhi.
(SSFC, 4/1/01, p.T12)
2001 cMar 21, Hindu nationalists
desecrated a mosque in Amritsar and burned copies of the Koran to
protest the Afghan destruction of Buddhist statues
(SSFC, 4/1/01, p.T12)
2001 Mar 22, A massive police
alert was issued following unrest in Amritsar.
(WSJ, 3/23/01, p.A1)
2001 Mar 29, A power plant cooling
tower collapsed and 6 workers were killed at Parvada.
(SFC, 3/30/01, p.A19)
2001 Apr 1, In New Delhi a court
order for cleaner fuel use forced thousands of buses and taxis off the
streets and thousands of commuters became stranded.
(WSJ, 4/3/01, p.A16)
2001 Apr 11, In northern India 8
Islamic separatists and 2 government soldiers were killed in gun
battles in Jammu and Kashmir.
(SFC, 4/12/01, p.C2)
2001 Apr 18, Border fighting
between Bangladesh and India left 16 Indian and 2 Bangladeshi soldiers
dead.
(WSJ, 4/19/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 18, India launched a
rocket carrying a communications satellite.
(SFC, 4/19/01, p.A11)
2001 May 10, In India millions
voted in legislative elections in 5 states (Assam, West Bengal, Kerala,
Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry) and clashes left 16 people dead. Opposition
parties won landslide victories in the 5 state legislatures.
(SFC, 5/11/01, p.D8)(SFC, 5/14/01, p.A12)
2001 May 13, Author R.K. Narayan
died at age 94 in Madras. His work included 34 novels and hundreds of
short stories.
(SFC, 5/14/01, p.B2)
2001 May 15, Gunmen killed 3
Catholic priests at Ngarian in Manipur state.
(SFC, 5/17/01, p.C4)
2001 May 23, India called off a
6-month cease-fire in Kashmir and at the same time invited Pakistan’s
military leader to visit and discuss how to bring peace to the region.
(SFC, 5/24/01, p.C2)
2001 May 29, Pakistan accepted
India’s offer for peace talks on Kashmir.
(WSJ, 5/30/01, p.A1)
2001 Jun 4, Government troops
battled Islamic rebels on 3 fronts and 23 people were killed. 4
civilians died when a grenade missed a paramilitary bunker and exploded
at a crowded bus station.
(SFC, 6/5/01, p.A14)
2001 Jun 18, Protesters burned
down the legislature in northeastern Manipur state. Police shot and
killed 11 protesters, who opposed a truce between the federal
government and a separatist group. It was the 3rd day of a general
strike.
(SFC, 6/19/01, p.A9)(SSFC, 6/24/01, p.T9)
2001 Jun 14, Sripati Chandrasekhar
(83), former health minister and author, died in San Diego. His
articles and 32 books included "American Aid and India’s Economic
Development" (1965).
(SSFC, 6/24/01, p.A27)
2001 Jun, The Indian School of
Business in Hyderabad was scheduled to open with 120 students. Founder
Rajat Gupta intended the school to become a world-class institution.
(WSJ, 3/23/00, p.A19)
2001 Jul 10, In Kashmir 25 people
were killed as India pressed an offensive against Islamic insurgents.
(SFC, 7/11/01, p.A8)
2001 Jul 14, Gen. Pervez Musharraf
of Pakistan arrived in India for talks on Kashmir and other issues with
PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
(SSFC, 7/15/01, p.A12)
2001 Jul 15, Gen. Pervez Musharraf
of Pakistan met with PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and talked on issues
including, Kashmir, trade, terrorism and nuclear safeguards. They also
agreed to continue discussions for a 2nd day.
(SFC, 7/16/01, p.A12)
2001 Jul 16, In India the leaders
of Pakistan and India failed to reach an accord on their half-century
dispute over Kashmir, ending a landmark three-day summit on a solemn
note. They did agree to meet later in the year in Pakistan.
(SFC, 7/17/01, p.A6)(AP, 7/16/02)
2001 Jul 21, Sivaji Ganesan,
actor, died at age 77 in Madras. He made his screen debut in the 1952
Tamil film "Parasakthi."
(SFC, 7/24/01, p.A20)
2001 Jul 23, It was reported that
flooding in India’s Orissa state had killed some 83 people and left
over 600,000 stranded.
(WSJ, 7/23/01, p.A1)(SFC, 7/25/01, p.A9)
2001 Jul 25, India’s bandit queen,
Phoolan Devi, was killed by masked gunmen in New Delhi. She had led a
revolt against the abuse of low-class women and won a seat in
parliament. Sher Singh Rana later confessed to the killing. 2
accomplices were later arrested.
(WSJ, 7/26/01, p.A1)(SSFC, 8/5/01, p.A14)
2001 Jul 25-2001 Sep 23, A red
rain fell sporadically in Kerala, India, during this period. A
government study found that the rains had been colored by spores from a
locally prolific aerial algae. In early 2006 the Keralan colored rains
suddenly rose to worldwide attention after media reports of an
extraordinary theory that the colored particles are extraterrestrial
cells, proposed by Godfrey Louis and Santhosh Kumar of the Mahatma
Gandhi University in Kottayam.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_rain_in_Kerala)
2001 Aug 4, Torrential rains and
floods swept over Bihar state and at least 3 people were killed.
Thousands were marooned.
(SSFC, 8/5/01, p.A14)
2001 Aug 6, In Madras state a fire
at the Badshaw asylum in Erwady killed 27 patients, many of who were
chained to their beds.
(SFC, 8/7/01, p.A6)(SFC, 8/9/01, p.A9)
2001 Aug 14, It was reported that
15 wild elephants had died in Nameri National Park in Assam state from
an unknown disease.
(SFC, 8/15/01, p.A7)
2001 Sep 8, In Kanpur, India, some
6,000 Dalits, converted to Buddhism.
(SFC, 9/10/01, p.B2)
2001 Sep 22, Pres. Bush lifted
sanctions on India and Pakistan.
(SSFC, 9/23/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep, 27, In India the central
government banned the Student’s Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). This
triggered a day of riots and led to 4 deaths in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
(WSJ, 10/1/01, p.A21)
2001 Oct 1, In Srinagar, capital
of Jammu and Kashmir, a Pakistani-based suicide squad struck at the
Legislative Assembly and 38 people were killed.
(SFC, 10/3/01, p.A11)(WSJ, 11/7/01, p.A17)(AP,
10/1/06)
2001 Oct 2, India demanded that
Pakistan shut down the Jaish-e-Mohammed (Army of the Prophet Mohammad)
militant group responsible for the Oct 1 attack in Srinagar that killed
40 people. India also asked the US to outlaw the group and to freeze
its assets.
(SFC, 10/3/01, p.A11)
2001 Oct 15, India shelled
Pakistani posts along their line in Jammu Kashmir for aiding Islamic
militants. One woman was killed and 25 civilians wounded.
(SFC, 10/16/01, p.B1)
2001 Oct 27, In Kashmir Islamic
rebels fought Indian troops in several areas and at least 21 people
were killed.
(SSFC, 10/28/01, p.A20)
2001 Nov 2, In Kashmir
Indian forces killed at least 25 suspected Islamic militants who tried
to cross over to Pakistan.
(SFC, 11/3/01, p.C2)
2001 Nov 6, Russia clinched a deal
to build a $2.6 billion nuclear-power plant in Kudunkulam, Tamil Nadu,
India. India reiterated its intention of buying a Russian aircraft
carrier, the Admiral Gorshkov, for the cost of retrofit estimated at
$500 million, along with 2 squadrons of MiG-29C jet fighters.
(WSJ, 11/7/01, p.A16)
2001 Nov 10, In Kashmir Indian
forces battled suspected Islamic militants and 18 people were killed.
(SFC, 11/12/01, p.A14)
2001 Nov 21, India border forces
in Kashmir killed at least 12 suspected Islamic guerrillas trying to
cross a cease-fire line with Pakistan.
(SFC, 11/22/01, p.A21)
2001 Dec 13, In India 5 gunmen and
a suicide bomber tried to enter a gate at the parliament building in
New Delhi. 6 policemen and the attackers were killed and 18 wounded.
The Kashmiri Lashkar-e-Tayyaba separatist group was held responsible.
The attack left 14 people dead. In 2006 Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri, was
sentenced to death for his involvement in the conspiracy.
(SFC, 12/14/01, p.A3)(WSJ, 12/14/01, p.A1)(SFC,
12/15/01, p.A3)(SSFC, 12/16/01, p.A14)(Econ, 10/7/06, p.47)
2001 Dec 21, India recalled its
top envoy from Pakistan and suspended bus and train service between the
2 countries.
(SFC, 12/22/01, p.A3)
2001 Dec 23, India troops moved
closer to the Pakistani border and heavy fire was exchanged. 2 Indian
soldiers were killed.
(SFC, 12/24/01, p.A4)
2001 Dec 23, Sri Lanka's Premier
traveled to India to press for greater involvement in peace talks with
the Tamil rebels.
(WSJ, 12/24/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 25, India and Pakistan
armies exchanged artillery fire in the mountains of Kashmir.
(SFC, 12/26/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 26, India deployed
missile batteries and increased jet fighter patrols along its border
with Pakistan.
(SFC, 12/27/01, p.A3)
2001 Dec 27, India banned
Pakistan’s national airline from entering its airspace and ordered
Pakistan to withdraw half of its diplomats from New Delhi. Pakistan
followed suite.
(SSFC, 12/30/01, p.A22)(AP, 12/27/02)
2001 Stephen Cohen authored
“India: Emerging Power.”
(Econ, 3/8/08, p.94)
2001 Gurdharan Das authored "India
Unbound," an examination of why India is so impoverished.
(WSJ, 3/19/00, p.A19)
2001 Arundhati Roy authored "Power
Politics." It covered dam development in India and included the role of
Enron Corp. in Maharashtra state projects.
(PP, 2001)
2001 The Indian film "Lagaan"
(Land Tax) starred Aamir Khan (36), who also produced it. It was set in
1893 and focused on a cricket match between villagers and colonial
masters over an unjust tax. It was the 1st Indian film to receive an
Oscar nomination on 14 years.
(WSJ, 3/27/02, p.A14)
2001 Arun Shourie was appointed as
India’s minister of disinvestment.
(Econ, 3/13/04, p.68)
2001 In India the children’s
Development Bank was stated by a children’s advocacy group led by Rita
Panicker as a means for street kids in New Delhi in safely save their
money. The idea spread across South Asia and by 2007 some 6,400 boys
and girls in India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Nepal had accounts.
(SSFC, 8/19/07, p.A17)
2001 In India Enron Corp. and
other investors shut down the Dabhol Power in Maharashtra state after
the state’s electricity authority fell $240 million behind in payments.
(Econ, 5/1/04, p.66)
2001 A census in India reported
that the Parsi population, also known as Zoroastrians, had declined to
69,601 from 76,382 a decade earlier. Their numbers worldwide were less
than 200,00 with most in India and Iran.
(WSJ, 2/6/06, p.A1)
2001 India changed the name of
Calcutta to Kolkata.
(SSFC, 10/29/06, p.G2)
2002 Jan 2, In India, Kashmir,
militants detonated 2 grenades near the legislature killing 1 police
officer and wounding at least 24. 2 soldiers were later killed by
militants at an Indian military post in Darhal.
(SFC, 1/3/02, p.A3)
2002 Jan 2, Foreign ministers of
India and Pakistan shook hands at a regional summit in Nepal.
(SFC, 1/3/02, p.A3)
2002 Jan 2, Anil Agarwal, founder
and leader of India’s Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), died of
cancer. Leadership passed to Sunita Narain.
(www.cseindia.org/aboutus/anilji/anilji.htm)(Econ,
8/26/06, p.51)
2002 Jan 4, India reported the
death of 15 soldiers and a number of civilians near Amritsar due to the
mishandling of an ammunition filled truck.
(SSFC, 1/13/02, p.A18)
2002 Jan 6, India shot down an
unmanned Pakistani spy plane. Pres. Vajpayee met with PM Tony Blair in
New Delhi.
(SFC, 1/7/02, p.A3)
2002 Jan 8, India and Pakistan
traded fire on their Kashmir border.
(WSJ, 1/9/02, p.A1)
2002 Jan 13, Armed militants in
Tripura state killed 16 and wounded 10 in the Singicherra area. The
outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura targeted Bengali
immigrants.
(SFC, 1/14/02, p.A6)
2002 Jan 21, In Kashmir 21 people
died in violence.
(WSJ, 1/22/02, p.A1)
2002 Jan 22, At least 4 police
officers were killed when 2 gunmen opened fired at the American Center
in Calcutta. 19 people were wounded. 3 Bangladeshis and 3 teachers from
an Islamic school were later arrested and charged with murder. Gangster
Aftab Ansari was later arrested in Dubai and said his motive was to
punish police for killing his friend, Asif Raza Khan, last year.
Harkat-ul Jihadi-e-Islami (HUJEI) was later implicated. In 2005 7
people were sentenced to death for the killings.
(SFC, 1/22/02, p.A8)(SFC, 1/23/02, p.A4)(SFC,
1/24/02, p.A7)(SSFC, 2/10/02, p.A14)(SFC, 2/15/02, p.A20)(AP, 4/27/05)
2002 Jan 24, India tested an
intermediate-range Agni-II missile over the Bay of Bengal.
(SFC, 1/25/02, p.A15)
2002 Jan 25, Chinese PM Zhu Rongji
visited Bangalore and said: You are number one in software, and we are
number one in hardware. If Indian software and Chinese hardware work
together, we can create a force that will be number one in the world.
(SSFC, 1/27/02, p.A24)
2002 Feb 22, Pakistan complained
over the US sale to India of surveillance radar, the AN/TPQ-36
Firefinder system.
(SFC, 2/23/02, p.A14)
2002 Feb 23, It was reported that
5 people were confirmed with plague in Himachal Pradesh.
(SFC, 2/23/02, p.A24)
2002 Feb 24, The BJP party was
defeated in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur and the new state of
Uttaranchal. It retained control in only 4 of the 28 states.
(SFC, 2/25/02, p.A7)
2002 Feb 27, In India Muslim
attackers allegedly set fire to a train carrying Hindu nationalists and
58 were killed as the Sabarmati Express left Godhra in Gujarat state.
Hindu nationalists went rampaging and at least 5 Muslims were killed in
other towns. 3 months of rioting followed with over 1000 dead. In 2005
a government panel said the fire was not set by a Muslim mob. Narendra
Modi, chief minister of Gujarat, was later blamed for the violence.
(SFC, 2/28/02, p.A7)(SFC, 6/28/03, p.A3)(WSJ,
1/18/05, p.A1)(Econ, 3/26/05, p.44)
2002 Feb 28, In Gujarat state,
Hindu mobs killed over 158 people, burned shops and attacked residences
in Ahmadabad to avenge the killing of 58 Hindu activists. In 2007
a series of videotaped confessions showed Hindu activists acknowledging
their roles in the killings and detailing blatant state collusion.
(SFC, 3/1/02, p.A1,12)(SFC, 10/25/07, p.A13)
2002 Mar 1, In Gujarat, India, the
death toll from Hindu-Muslim violence passed 300 and some 3,500 troops
moved into Ahmadabad to quell the violence. 14 Muslims burned to death
in the Best Bakery in Vadodara. 21 Hindus, accused of murder, were
later acquitted after almost 40 witnesses withdrew evidence.
(SFC, 3/2/02, p.A1)(Econ, 9/20/03, p.40)
2002 Mar 2, Rioting spread as the
death toll in India's religious strife reached 408.
(AP, 3/2/07)
2002 Mar 3, In Ahmadabad the death
toll from Hindu-Muslim violence climbed to 538 as Hindu mobs continued
attacks on Muslims.
(SFC, 3/4/02, p.A8)
2002 Mar 4, In Ahmadabad Hindu
militants razed the 80-year-old Manchaji mosque and erected a foot-tall
statue of the monkey god Hanuman in its place. The death toll from
Hindu-Muslim violence in the region climbed to 544.
(SFC, 3/5/02, p.A6)
2002 Mar 4, In Kashmir separatist
violence left at least 17 people dead. This included 8 Islamic
militants killed by Indian soldiers.
(SFC, 3/5/02, p.A7)
2002 Mar 7, The death toll from
Hindu-Muslim violence in the region climbed to 665, and was expected to
climb if construction begins Mar 15 on a Hindu temple in Ayodha.
(WSJ, 3/8/02, p.A1)
2002 Mar 10, Religious violence
left 2 more dead in Panvad and Rajpipla, villages 60 and 95 miles away
from Ahmadabad.
(SFC, 3/12/02, p.A7)
2002 Mar 13, A high-court panel
ruled that no religious ceremony may be held in Ayodhya at the 67-acre
site of the former Babri Masjid mosque, destroyed by Hindus in 1992.
Mahant Ramchandra Paramhans (94), head of the Ram temple movement,
vowed to defy the court order.
(SFC, 3/14/02, p.A7)(SFC, 3/15/02, p.A16)
2002 Mar 14, About 10,000 police
stood guard at Ayodhya arrested some 1,500 kar sevaks (holy volunteers)
and blocked marchers intent on beginning construction of a Ram temple.
(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A9)
2002 Mar 17, It was reported that
McDonald’s Corp. had agreed to give 410 million to vegetarian groups,
Hindu and Sikh organizations and to pay $4,000 to 12 plaintiffs to
settle a suit over the use of beef tallow in french fries.
(SSFC, 3/17/02, p.A22)
2002 Mar 18, In India police shot
and killed 4 people while trying to disperse mobs and stop looting in 2
towns, Bharuch and Modasa, in Gujarat state.
(SFC, 3/20/02, p.A10)
2002 Mar 26, India passed a
Prevention of Terrorism bill that allowed a 3-month detention of
suspects without charges plus an additional 3 months with court
approval.
(SFC, 3/27/02, p.A6)
2002 Mar 30, In Kashmir suspected
Islamic militants exchanged fire with Indian police in Jammu and 10
people were killed.
(SSFC, 3/31/02, p.A17)
2002 May 3, In India an air force
jet crashed into an office building in the Adda neighborhood of
Jullundur in Punjab state. At least 8 people were killed. 2 pilots
escaped from the MiG-21.
(SFC, 5/3/02, p.A10)
2002 May 7, In India a land mine
exploded under a police van in Jharkhand state and 15 officers were
killed. Rebels were enforcing a 3-day strike in the area to protest the
labeling of some 21 groups as terrorists.
(SFC, 5/8/02, p.A17)
2002 May 9, Rioting between Hindus
and Muslims in Ahmadabad left 9 people dead.
(SFC, 5/10/02, p.A20)
2002 May 12, In India an express
train derailed near Lucknow and 12 people were killed. Sabotage was
suspected.
(SFC, 5/13/02, p.A6)
2002 May 13, The government that a
heat wave had left 50 people dead in the Andhra Pradesh state.
(SFC, 5/14/02, p.A13)
2002 May 14, In Kashmir 3 Islamic
militant attacked an Indian army base and killed 34 civilians and
soldiers in Kaluchak. India held Pakistan responsible.
(SFC, 5/14/02, p.A13)(SFC, 5/15/02, p.A11)(WSJ,
5/16/02, p.A1)
2002 May 18, India and Pakistan
traded fire for a 2nd day across the Line of Control. India gave its
Pakistan ambassador 1 week to return home and bombarded 13 sectors in
Kashmir.
(SSFC, 5/19/02, p.A11)
2002 May 19, Weekend fighting in
Kashmir between India and Pakistan left at least 15 people killed.
(SFC, 5/20/02, p.A8)
2002 May 20, Palestine called for
int’l. monitors for the Kashmir border. 2 Indian soldiers were killed
in fighting.
(SFC, 5/21/02, p.A9)
2002 May 21, Fighting between
Indian and Pakistan soldiers in Kashmir killed 9 civilians and wounded
7 others. Gunmen in Srinagar assassinated Abdul Ghani Lone (70), a
moderate Kashmiri separatist leader.
(SFC, 5/21/02, p.A9)(SFC, 5/22/02, p.A13)(WSJ,
5/22/02, p.A1)
2002 ~May 24, Pres. Vajpayee
announced a $1.3 billion aid package for Kashmir and promised fair
elections.
(WSJ, 5/30/02, p.A10)
2002 May 25, Pres. Bush and Putin
pressured Pakistan’s Pres. Musharraf to stop incursions into
Indian-controlled Kashmir.
(SSFC, 5/26/02, p.A12)
2002 May 29, In India 4 bomb
blasts in and around Ahmadabad in Gujarat state injured at least 39
people.
(SFC, 5/29/02, p.A16)(SFC, 5/30/02, p.A12)
2002 May 29, In Kashmir
cross-border shelling killed at least 23 people and wounded 17.
(WSJ, 5/30/02, p.A1)
2002 May 30, Violence resumed in
Gujarat state. In Kadi a Muslim bus driver was dragged from his bus and
burned alive and a Hindu man was killed in a bomb blast.
(SFC, 5/31/02, p.A12)
2002 May 31, The US State Dept.
urged some 60,000 Americans in India to leave over concerns of war
between India and Pakistan.
(SFC, 6/1/02, p.A1)
2002 Jun 1, The UN ordered its
employees in India and Pakistan to evacuate their families over a
growing concern of war.
(SSFC, 6/2/02, p.A12)
2002 Jun 3, India and Pakistan
exchanged fire in Kashmir and at least 8 civilians were killed and 23
injured.
(SFC, 6/4/02, p.A8)
2002 Jun 5, India PM Vajpayee said
his country would consider jointly monitoring the disputed Kashmir
border with Pakistan. Pakistan rejected India’s proposal for joint
patrols in Kashmir.
(SFC, 6/5/02, p.A1)(SFC, 6/6/02, p.A8)
2002 Jun 7, Pakistan reported that
it had shot down an unmanned Indian spy plane.
(SFC, 6/8/02, p.A10)
2002 Jun 10, India eased tensions
with Pakistan as it lifted a 5-month ban on Pakistani aircraft flying
over it and pulled back a naval flotilla from the Pakistani coast.
(SFC, 6/11/02, p.A10)
2002 Jun 14, In Kashmir India and
Pakistan continued cross border shelling. Pakistan reported Indian
shelling killed 6 civilians, including 3 children.
(SFC, 6/15/02, p.A8)
2002 Jun 16, In Indian
Kashmir suspected Islamic militants hurled grenades and opened fire on
police, sleeping villagers and Hindu pilgrims, killing 12 people over
the last 24 hours. 21 people, including five Hindu villagers, were
killed in several incidents of separatist violence.
(AP, 6/16/02)(Reuters, 6/16/02)(SFC, 6/17/02, p.A8)
2002 Jun 21, In Kashmir 13
suspected Islamic militants were killed in the Indian-controlled
section. Rebels killed Ghulam Rasool, a member of the governing
national Conference Party. In the Pakistan-controlled section a sniper
opened fire on a truck carrying 22 people and 10 were killed when it
plunged into a ravine.
(SFC, 6/22/02, p.A6)
2002 Jun 23, A wild elephant
killed 10 people on the India-Nepal border.
(SFC, 6/25/02, p.A8)
2002 Jun 27, In India’s
Jammu-Kashmir 9 people, including three soldiers, were killed and 22
wounded in separate incidents of violence.
(Reuters, 6/27/02)(SFC, 6/28/02, p.A14)
2002 Jun 29, In India PM Vajpayee
named Lal Krishna Advani, a Hindu hardliner, as his deputy.
(WSJ, 7/1/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 6, In Indian-ruled
Kashmir 2 soldiers and two separatist rebels were killed in fighting.
(Reuters, 7/6/02)
2002 Jul 12, In India's Kashmir
region at least 10 people were killed and 15 wounded, some critically,
in a shootout. Shops and businesses downed shutters in Srinagar, the
summer capital of India's disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir, in
response to a strike call by separatists to honor Kashmiri "martyrs".
(Reuters, 7/13/02)(SFC, 7/13/02, p.A14)
2002 Jul 13, It was reported that
Dr. P.V. Rajiv in southern India saved three sick newborn babies using
a cloned version of the anti-impotence drug Viagra. "We saved the
babies by giving sildenafil citrate, also called Viagra," he said. Dr.
Rajiv first gave the drug orally to a baby suffering pulmonary
hypertension, after consulting international journals which reported
its use to treat adults in a similar condition. Blue babies have a
condition that contracts vessels carrying oxygen-rich blood to the
lungs.
(AP, 7/13/02)
2002 Jul 13, Outside Jammu,
Kashmir, a grenade and gun attack on a Hindu slum that left 27 people
dead, dozens wounded and rekindled fears of war with nuclear neighbor
Pakistan.
(Reuters, 7/14/02)(SSFC, 7/14/02, p.A12)
2002 Jul 16, In India-controlled
Kashmir a grenade wounded at least 13 people in Anantnag.
(SFC, 7/17/02, p.A7)
2002 Jul 18, In India legislators
elected Abdul Kalam, father of their nuclear missile program, as the
country’s 12th president.
(WSJ, 7/19/02, p.A9)
2002 Jul 18, In India separatist
guerrillas ambushed a police convoy in Dijungmukh, Assam state, and 7
police officers were killed.
(SFC, 7/19/02, p.A16)
2002 Jul 22, In Indian Kashmir 4
suspected separatist rebels were killed in a shootout with troops while
a policeman and a civilian were wounded in separate blasts.
(Reuters, 7/22/02)
2002 Jul 25, Torrential monsoon
rains and overflowing rivers worsened flooding in eastern India, Nepal
and Bangladesh and officials said 218 people have died and more than
six million people have been left homeless during the last 5days.
(Reuters, 7/25/02)
2002 Jul 26, Indian Vice President
Krishan Kant, 75, died of a heart attack.
(Reuters, 7/27/02)
2002 Jul 28, Torrential overnight
rains set off more floods in eastern India as the death toll from
floods in India, Nepal and Bangladesh passed 300.
(Reuters, 7/28/02)
2002 Jul, Calcutta banned rickshaw
pullers from all major thoroughfares.
(SSFC, 9/29/02, p.F1)
2002 Aug 4, India's federal
government planned to distribute 7.142 billion rupees ($147 million) to
12 states to tackle problems arising out of a failed monsoon. Much of
India was facing the worst drought in a decade due to erratic monsoon
rains. An outbreak of encephalitis in India's remote northeastern state
of Assam rose to 100 on Sunday, as heavy monsoon rains wreaked havoc in
large parts of the region.
(Reuters, 8/4/02)
2002 Aug 6, In Kashmir suspected
Islamic militant lobbed a grenade and opened fire on a group of Hindu
pilgrims 175 miles north of Jammu.
(SFC, 8/6/02, p.A7)
2002 Aug 6, In eastern India 20
people were feared drowned when a boat overturned in Bihar state.
(SFC, 8/7/02, p.A12)
2002 Aug 11, In northern India
monsoon rains killed at least 43 people in Uttaranchal state.
(SFC, 8/12/02, p.A8)
2002 Aug 12 It was reported that a
2-mile thick cloud of pollution covered South Asia and that it was
suspected for causing drought, flooding and the premature deaths of a
half-million people in India each year.
(SFC, 8/12/02, p.A7)
2002 Aug 13, In India separatist
guerrillas ambushed a truck in Meghalaya state and killed at least 15
people.
(SFC, 8/13/02, p.A13)
2002 Aug 13, Deaths from flooding
in Bangladesh (157), India (265) and Nepal (422) and reached at least
874.
(SFC, 8/13/02, p.A15)
2002 Aug 20, Indian troops killed
14 Muslim rebels trying to sneak into Kashmir from Pakistan.
(WSJ, 8/21/02, p.A1)
2002 Aug 23, Pakistan accused
India of launching a heavy ground an air attack on northern Kashmir.
(SFC, 8/24/02, p.A8)
2002 Aug 24, Suspected rebels shot
dead eight Muslim villagers, including three women, in Indian Kashmir
as a U.S. envoy took his peace mission to Islamabad to try to cool
tensions on the subcontinent.
(Reuters, 8/24/02)
2002 Aug 28, Police in India
reported that 14 people, including 10 Muslim militants, were killed in
clashes between Indian security forces and separatist rebels in India's
Jammu and Kashmir state.
(Reuters, 8/28/02)
2002 Aug 29, Indian soldiers
killed 5 guerrillas after they crossed into the India-controlled
portion of Kashmir.
(SFC, 8/30/02, p.A19)
2002 Sep 6, In India the film "Ek
Chhoti Si Love Story" (A Short Love Story) was released across India
despite a court order and attacks on some theatres, has kicked up a
controversy over its explicit sexual content.
(Reuters, 9/7/02)
2002 Sep 6, In Indian Kashmir
suspected Muslim rebels shot dead Sheikh Abdul Rehman, a politician
contesting state elections, in the first killing of a candidate since
the campaign began.
(Reuters, 9/6/02)
2002 Sep 9, The Rajdhani Express
train derailed in Bihar state and fell into a river, killing at least
118 people. An Indian railway official said that it was an act of
sabotage.
(AP, 9/10/02)(WSJ, 9/10/02, p.A1)(Reuters,
9/11/02)(AP, 9/9/03)
2002 Sep 11, In Indian-controlled
Kashmir Islamic militants killed Mushtaq Ahmad Lone (44), a state law
minister and legislative candidate. 15 others were killed in 2 other
attacks.
(SFC, 9/12/02, p.A5)
2002 Sep 16, Indian-ruled Kashmir
ended the first stage of state assembly elections against a backdrop of
violence and in the shadow of a tense confrontation between nuclear
powers India and Pakistan. Indian troops killed 9 suspected Islamic
rebels in a border sweep hours before the elections. A 44% turnout was
reported.
(Reuters, 9/16/02)(WSJ, 9/16/02, p.A1)(SFC, 9/17/02,
p.A10)
2002 Sep 18, In Srinagar, Kashmir,
2 ruling party workers were gunned down and a ruling lawmaker was
attacked ahead of the second round of voting in a state election dogged
by anti-poll violence that left 13 people dead.
(Reuters, 9/18/02)(SFC, 9/19/02, p.A10)
2002 Sep 18, Abu Salem, alleged
terrorist mastermind, Mafia boss and one of India's most wanted men,
was arrested in Portugal. Salem is accused by Indian police of being
involved in the country's worst bombing attack, which killed 257 people
in Bombay in 1993, as well as a string of murder and extortion cases.
(AP, 9/20/02)
2002 Sep 20, In India one man was
killed and 5 others injured when police opened fire to disperse groups
of Hindus and Muslims fighting in western Gujarat state.
(Reuters, 9/20/02)
2002 Sep 24, In India commandos
stormed the Swaminarayan Hindu temple in Gandhinagar to try to flush
out gunmen who killed 32 Hindus and wounded over 70. Two attackers were
killed the next day after a 14-hour siege.
(Reuters, 9/24/02)(SFC, 9/25/02, p.A11)(WSJ,
9/26/02, p.A1)
2002 Sep 25, Indian forces killed
five suspected Islamic militants trying to cross into Indian Kashmir
from Pakistan as new tensions were stoked between the nuclear rivals
over an attack on an Indian temple.
(AP, 9/25/02)
2002 Sep 28, In India at least 14
people died when they thousands stampeded to board a train following a
political rally in Lucknow.
(SSFC, 9/29/02, p.A24)
2002 Sep 30, The National
Intelligence Council said China, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria and Russia
will have 50-75 million HIV-infected people by 2010, more than any
other 5 countries.
(SFC, 10/1/02, p.A5)
2002 Oct 1, Two Indian naval
reconnaissance planes taking part in a ceremonial flypast collided in
mid-air over the western state of Goa, killing 15 people.
(Reuters, 10/1/02)(SFC, 10/2/02, p.A10)
2002 Oct 3, India said it had
killed eight Islamic militants trying to enter Indian Kashmir from
Pakistani territory as the state battles a surge in rebel violence just
days before the end of a disputed election.
(Reuters, 10/3/02)
2002 Oct 12, In western India 4
people were killed as Hindus and Muslims clashed in the town of Solapur
in continuing violence triggered after U.S. preacher Jerry Falwell
called the Prophet Mohammad a terrorist.
(Reuters, 10/12/02)
2002 Oct 18, India assumed direct
control over Kashmir after elections failed to produce a viable
government.
(WSJ, 10/18/02, p.A1)
2002 Oct 18, Pakistan matched
India’s pledge to demobilize along the border.
(WSJ, 10/18/02, p.A1)
2002 Oct 27, In India separatist
guerrillas in Assam state killed 22 villagers. Members of the National
Democratic Front of Bodoland operated out of bases in Bhutan. The
10-year insurgency has left over 10,000 dead.
(SFC, 10/28/02, p.A7)
2002 Nov 3, In India police killed
2 members of Lashkar-i-Taiba during a gunbattle at a New Delhi shopping
center.
(SFC, 11/4/02, p.A7)
2002 Nov 11, Bill Gates of
Microsoft pledged $100 million to fight AIDS in India.
(SFC, 11/12/02, p.A11)
2002 Nov 18, In India a rebel land
mine killed at least 20 people in a bus in Andhra Pradesh state. The
leftist People’s War Group was blamed.
(SFC, 11/19/02, p.A10)
2002 Nov 25, Indian security
forces shot dead two suspected Muslim militants who had attacked Hindu
temples in Indian Kashmir, ending a bloody siege that cast a shadow
over efforts to bring peace to the disputed region.
(AP, 11/25/02)
2002 Nov 25, An overloaded bus
crashed off a bridge into a boulder-strewn gorge in central India,
killing at least 36 people and injuring 45.
(Reuters, 11/25/02)
2002 Nov 30, In Uttar Pradesh,
India, a mystery epidemic was reported to have killed 44 at least
Indian children in just over a month.
(Reuters, 11/30/02)
2002 Dec 8, In Karnataka, India,
Hannur Nagappa, a former state minister, was found dead. He had been
kidnapped Aug 25 by the bandit Koose Muniswamy Veerappan.
(SFC, 12/9/02, p.A7)
2002 Dec 15, India's ruling Hindu
nationalists swept to victory in an election in the western state of
Gujarat. The BJP won 125 of 182 seats.
(Reuters, 12/15/02)(SFC, 12/16/02, p.A14)
2002 Dec 19, Suspected militants
killed three young women (21-22) in their homes just days after posters
appeared in India's Jammu and Kashmir state ordering women to wear a
veil.
(Reuters, 12/20/02)
2002 Dec 19, In India Maoist
rebels killed 18 policemen in an ambush in a dense forest in the
eastern state of Jharkhand.
(Reuters, 12/20/02)
2002 Dec 21, In southern India an
express train jumped the tracks, killing at least 18 people and
injuring 80.
(Reuters, 12/21/02)
2002 Dec 24, In India's mainly
Muslim state of Kashmir 4 civilians and 9 separatist guerrillas were
killed in the latest rebel violence.
(Reuters, 12/24/02)
2002 Ashutosh Varshney, Univ. of
Michigan political scientist, authored "Ethnic Conflict and Civil Life:
Hindus and Muslims in India."
(LSA, Fall/03, p.30)
2003 Jan 5, In Bhutan Indian
separatists said 50 Indian soldiers attacked their camps. 15 soldiers
and 7 rebels were reported killed.
(SFC, 1/8/03, p.A16)
2003 Jan 9, India’s PM Vajpayee
announced the introduction of legislation for dual citizenship for
people of Indian origin in "certain countries."
(SSFC, 1/12/03, p.A4)
2003 Jan 15, The death toll from a
month-long cold spell rose to 1170 people in northern India, Nepal and
Bangladesh.
(AP, 1/15/03)
2003 Jan 27, India and Pakistan
resumed shelling along the Kashmir border, and New Delhi warned
Pakistan it would be "erased from the world map" if Islamabad used
nuclear weapons against India.
(AP, 1/28/03)
2003 Jan 28, In eastern India a
passenger bus caught fire after colliding with a truck carrying paint
in dense fog, killing at least 42 people and injuring 13 others.
(AP, 1/28/03)
2003 Feb 15, In India 7 men
from Hindu upper castes were killed at a roadside restaurant the
crime-prone Bihar state. The upper-caste men were apparently killed to
avenge the killings 2 days earlier of 7 lower-caste Dalits.
(AP, 2/16/03)
2003 Feb 18, In India a bus
carrying a wedding party fell into a gorge, killing 23 people and
injuring 31 others in the mountainous northern state of Uttaranchal.
(AP, 2/19/03)
2003 Feb 26, In India a gun
battle, kidnappings, ballot theft and destruction of voting machines
marked polling in two of the four Indian states where new legislatures
were elected.
(AP, 2/26/03)
2003 Mar 8, In India
separatist rebels in northeastern Assam state shot and killed three
laborers, ignited a huge fire by launching mortars at an oil refinery
and used explosives to damage a pipeline.
(AP, 3/8/03)
2003 Mar 9, In southern
India a van driver lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a bus,
killing 17 people and injuring 13 others.
(AP, 3/9/03)
2003 Mar 26, India test-fired a
short-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear weapon, and Pakistan
immediately announced it had tested a similar missile.
(AP, 3/26/03)
2003 Mar 26, In India gunmen
fatally shot a senior Hindu nationalist in western Gujarat state.
(AP, 3/26/03)
2003 Mar 28, In Jammu-Kashmir
suspected Islamic militants attacked and mutilated 5 Kashmiri Muslim
villagers, accusing them of being police informants.
(AP, 3/28/03)
2003 Apr 1, In India members of
the Hmar Peoples Convention attacked a cluster of villages in southern
Assam state's Cachar district, burning huts and took 28 villagers as
hostages. 22 farmers were later found shot dead.
(AP, 4/4/03)
2003 Apr 6, Indian troops killed
Fayaz Ahmad Khan, a top commander of Harkat-ul Mujahedeen, a Kashmiri
guerrilla group that is suspected in the 1995 abduction of six Western
tourists and a 1999 airliner hijacking.
(AP, 4/6/03)
2003 Apr 14, In eastern India
Communist guerrillas staged two separate attacks on police, killing
eight officers.
(AP, 4/15/03)
2003 Apr 17, India reported it 1st
case of SARS.
(WSJ, 4/18/03, p.A1)
2003 Apr 19, India's prime
minister acknowledged the government had manipulated elections in
Indian-controlled Kashmir and promised residents it would not be
repeated.
(AP, 4/19/03)
2003 Apr 29, Indian troops raided
a base of suspected Islamic militants in Kashmir, sparking a firefight
that lasted more than five hours and resulted in 17 deaths.
(AP, 4/29/03)
2003 May 2, India and Pakistan
agreed to hold talks and restore diplomatic and air links.
(AP, 5/2/03)(WSJ, 5/5/03, p.A1)
2003 May 5, Pakistan will get rid
of its nuclear arsenal if rival India does as well, a Pakistani Foreign
Ministry spokesman said.
(AP, 5/6/03)
2003 May 6, In northeastern India
suspected separatist guerrillas killed 19 Bengali settlers in Tripura
state.
(AP, 5/6/03)
2003 May 7, In northeastern India
assailants killed 10 sleeping villagers and wounded six others in the
second attack blamed on separatist guerrillas in two days.
(AP, 5/8/03)
2003 May 10, In northern India a
fire raged through a garment factory, killing at least 12 people and
injuring 70 others.
(AP, 5/10/03)
2003 May 15, In northern India a
fire engulfed the rear three coaches of a moving express train, killing
at least 39 passengers and injuring 20 others.
(AP, 5/15/03)
2003 May 23, In India officials
reported that a heat wave in southern Indian has killed at least 198
people in the past eight days.
(AP, 5/23/03)
2003 May 27, In southern India
officials reported that a deadly heat wave has killed at least 430
people in the past two weeks.
(AP, 5/27/03)
2003 May 27, In India strong winds
and pounding rain toppled a Ferris wheel at a temple festival in Tamil
Nadu state, killing 12 people and injuring more than 20 others.
(AP, 5/28/03)
2003 Jun 1, India officials
reported that a heat wave in southern Indian has killed at least 1000
people in the past 3 weeks.
(AP, 6/2/03)
2003 Jun 6, Monsoon rains arrived
in India's northeast, bringing hope for relief from a grueling heat
wave that has killed nearly 1,400 people nationwide in the past 3 weeks.
(AP, 6/6/03)
2003 Jun 16, In southern India a
coal mine collapsed with at least 17 miners feared killed.
(AP, 6/16/03)
2003 Jun 22, In western India a
passenger train hit boulders spilled on the track by a landslide,
causing four cars to derail and killing 51 people.
(AP, 6/23/03)(AP, 6/24/03)
2003 Jun 23, India's PM Atal
Bihari Vajpayee, making the first visit to China by a leader of his
nation in a decade, told his Premier Wen Jiabao that he hoped for
friendship and trust between the nuclear-armed former rivals.
(AP, 6/23/03)
2003 Jun 27, In India thousands of
fish in the Gomati River died when monsoon rains sent a huge overflow
of untreated sewage into the water, causing a drastic drop in oxygen
levels. The fish were already ailing from the persistent flow of
untreated sewage. A cleanup was important because Lucknow's 2 million
people depend on the river for drinking water.
(AP, 8/23/03)
2003 Jun 30, Pakistan's new
ambassador to India arrived to take up his post, saying his country was
ready to restore normal ties with its nuclear rival after a gap of 18
months.
(AP, 6/30/03)
2003 Jul 2, In southern India a
train engine and two coaches fell off a bridge and landed on a fish
market and parked taxis, killing at least 18.
(AP, 7/2/03)
2003 Jul 11, India and Pakistan
resumed bus service, a transportation link that was disrupted 18 months
earlier due to threats of war.
(AP, 7/11/03)
2003 Jul 15, In India health
officials reported that mosquito-borne encephalitis had killed at least
110 children in Andhra Pradesh over the last 6 weeks.
(WSJ, 7/16/03, p.A1)
2003 Jul 16, In northern India
more than 100 people were feared dead in flash floods caused by a heavy
rain in a remote hill area of Himachal Pradesh state.
(AP, 7/16/03)
2003 Jul 21, Monsoon rains were
reported to have killed at least 579 people in South Asia. India
reported a total of 263 deaths, Bangladesh 169, Pakistan 78, and Nepal
69.
(AP, 7/21/03)
2003 Jul 30, In India Lal Bihari,
president of the Association of the Living Dead, estimated 35,000
people in Uttar Pradesh state have been wrongly certified as dead. "We
have knocked on doors of government officials and police. No one is
ready to recognize us as living persons because revenue records declare
us dead."
(AP, 8/1/03)
2003 Aug 3, In western India 3
buildings collapsed when a cooking gas cylinder exploded, killing at
least 43 people and injuring 39.
(AP, 8/4/03)
2003 Aug 8, In India workers
camped out at a mountain tunnel were hit by a fierce overnight
thunderstorm near a Himalayan resort in Himachal Pradesh state, leaving
at least 26 dead.
(AP, 8/8/03)
2003 Aug 10, India's prime
minister called for an end to bloodshed between Pakistan and India in a
statement read before a peace conference in Islamabad.
(AP, 8/10/03)
2003 Aug 11, A helicopter
chartered by one of India's largest oil companies crashed into the
Arabian Sea near Bombay with 29 people on board. Two people were
rescued.
(AP, 8/12/03)
2003 Aug 14, In northeast India
suspected separatist rebels blew up a bus on the main highway, killing
six passengers.
(AP, 8/14/03)
2003 Aug 25, In India consecutive
bombs exploded in a crowded jewelry market and a historical landmark in
Bombay, killed 53 people, wounding 150 others. The Student’s Islamic
Movement of India (SIMI) was believed responsible. Ashrat Shafiq
Mohammed Ansari, Syed Mohammed Haneef Abdul Rahim and his wife Fahmeeda
Syed Mohammed Haneef were arrested under India's tough anti-terrorism
law shortly after the attacks. All 3 were convicted in 2009 after Judge
M.R. Puranic said they were members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned,
Pakistan-based militant group formed in the 1980s.
(WSJ, 8/27/03, p.A1)(Econ, 7/15/06, p.39)(AP,
8/25/08)(AP, 7/27/09)
2003 Aug 27, In Nasik, India,
thousands of Hindu pilgrims jostling to reach a river for a religious
festival toppled a bamboo fence, sparking a stampede that killed at
least 39 people, mostly women. At least 125 people were injured.
(AP, 8/27/03)
2003 Aug 30, In India 2 suspected
Islamic militants were killed in a battle with New Delhi police. Indian
police claimed to have killed Ghazi Baba, the head of the
Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group, during a fierce gun battle in
Srinagar. Baba was said to be the mastermind behind several terror
attacks including the December 2001 attack on India's Parliament.
(AP, 8/30/03)
2003 Aug 30, In northern India a
bus carrying 40 passengers plunged into a river in a remote hilly area.
There was no immediate word on casualties.
(AP, 8/30/03)
2003 Aug, Researchers from India’s
nongovernment Center for Science and Environment said Coke and Pepsi
products contain high levels of pesticide residue. A high court in
Kerala, India, soon ordered Coca Cola to shut down a $25 million plant
due to local complaints of excess water use. Villagers also complained
that waste from the plant had contaminated drinking water. Activists
left alone a nearby Indian brewery.
(SSFC, 3/6/05, p.A3)(WSJ, 9/12/06, p.A6)
2003 Sep 2, In eastern India an
overcrowded boat capsized in the swollen Kosi River of Bihar state, and
at least 25 people were missing and feared drowned.
(AP, 9/3/03)
2003 Sep 6, In Indian-controlled
Kashmir a bomb targeting an army convoy exploded in the main wholesale
market for fruit, killing six people, including an army officer, and
wounding 25.
(AP, 9/6/03)
2003 Sep 8, Ariel Sharon flew to
New Delhi for the first-ever visit to India by an Israeli prime
minister, hoping to cement blossoming defense and trade ties.
(AP, 9/8/03)
2003 Sep 8, In eastern India
suspected communist rebels detonated a land mine under a passing police
vehicle, killing 12 officers.
(AP, 9/8/03)
2003 Sep 12, In Bombay (Mumbai),
India, police shot and killed a man believed to have masterminded car
bombings in Bombay last month that killed 53 people. Naseer and his
aide were traveling in a car that carried explosives, guns and
detonators when police intercepted it.
(AP, 9/12/03)
2003 Sep 15, In India rain-swollen
rivers began receding in the state of Uttar Pradesh but the death toll
there from monsoon rains rose to 190 after 34 more people were reported
killed.
(AP, 9/15/03)
2003 Sep 20, The Indian army said
it killed six suspected separatist guerrillas from a Pakistan-based
group after a fierce battle in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
(AP, 9/20/03)
2003 Sep 24, India rejected
Pakistan's invitation to negotiate a settlement concerning the disputed
province of Kashmir.
(AP, 9/25/03)
2003 Sep 29, India's army said
that it killed 15 Islamic militants as they tried overnight to sneak
into Indian-controlled Kashmir from Pakistan-controlled territory.
(AP, 9/29/03)
2003 Sep, Bangladesh and India
launched a direct bus route from Dhaka to Agartala, the capital of the
Indian state of Tripura.
(Econ, 10/4/03, p.40)
2003 Oct 7, In southern India an
overloaded ferry carrying 50 people capsized in the storm-tossed
Krishna River, killing at least 18 passengers.
(AP, 10/7/03)
2003 Oct 8, China was reported to
have taken the first step toward recognizing the Himalayan territory of
Sikkim as a part of India, resolving a long-standing border dispute.
Sikkim, located between Nepal and the kingdom of Bhutan, was an
independent principality before it was annexed by India in 1975.
(AP, 10/8/03)
2003 Oct 13, The Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation said it was doubling to $200 million the prevention
funds for HIV and AIDS in India.
(AP, 10/14/03)
2003 Oct 17, A new family of frogs
was reported from the western India. The purple, burrowing frog family,
named Nasikabatrachus sahydrensis, appeared to date back some 200
million years.
(SFC, 10/17/03, p.A10)
2003 Oct 18, India commandos
raided a Srinagar, Kashmir, shopping center where suspected Islamic
guerrillas were holed up, killing both men and ending a one-day
standoff.
(AP, 10/18/03)
2003 Nov 1, In western India a
tourist bus skidded off a mountain road near Mahabaleshwar and fell
into a gorge, killing 22 people and injuring 30 others.
(AP, 11/2/03)
2003 Nov 6, In India workers
burned down a house and killed 21 people from a rival trade union in a
battle over jobs at an Indian tea farm.
(AP, 11/6/03)
2003 Nov 14, China and India began
1st ever joint naval exercises.
(SFC, 11/13/03, p.A7)
2003 Nov 22, In India suspected
separatist rebels on bicycles shot and killed 11 workers in
northeastern Assam state, which has been plagued by clashes between
people native to the region and those from the neighboring area of
Bihar. The dispute has been chiefly about access to government railroad
jobs.
(AP, 11/22/03)
2003 Nov 25, The Indian and
Pakistani armies agreed to stop firing across their frontier, including
in disputed Kashmir, starting at midnight in a further easing of
tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
(AP, 11/25/03)
2003 Nov 25, In southern India an
explosion at a state-run factory that makes detonators killed at least
10 workers.
(AP, 11/25/03)
2003 Nov 27, Indian security
forces battled rebels in villages along the border in Kashmir and
suspected insurgents detonated a grenade in a busy market. The violence
left 12 people dead.
(AP, 11/27/03)
2003 Dec 1, India and Pakistan
agreed to restore airline overflight and landing rights by Jan. 1, 2004.
(AP, 12/1/04)
2003 Dec 2, In northern India a
bus skidded off a steep mountain road and fell into a river, killing at
least 27 passengers and injuring 30 others.
(AP, 12/2/03)
2003 Dec 4, In India election
results showed the ruling Hindu nationalist party wrested control from
the opposition in three of four state legislatures.
(AP, 12/4/03)
2003 Dec 7, In Indian-held Kashmir
an overcrowded bus skidded off a steep mountain road and plunged 1,500
feet into a gorge, killing 23 passengers and injuring 13 others.
(AP, 12/7/03)
2003 Dec 7, In southern India
Hindu-Muslim clashes broke out overnight in Hyderabad, killing at least
five and injuring 27.
(AP, 12/7/03)
2003 Dec 16, A cyclone tore into
India's southeastern coast, killing 11 people.
(AP, 12/16/03)
2003 Dec 30, At least 34 Indian
soldiers were wounded in Kashmir when militants detonated a bomb in a
shop as the bus carrying the troops passed by.
(Reuters, 12/30/03)
2003 Madhusree Mukerjee, Indian
author, authored "The Land of the Naked People: Encounters With Stone
Age Islanders," a travel narrative of the Andaman Islands.
(SSFC, 8/17/03, p.M3)
2003 Vikas Swarup, Indian
diplomat, authored his novel “Q&A” while in London. The novel was
turned into the successful film “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008).
(Econ, 1/31/09, p.90)
2003 Arun Shourie, India’s
minister of disinvestment, was also appointed as minister for
communications.
(WSJ, 1/9/04, p.A1)
2003 India changed its verbiage on
Tibet to say that the Tibet Autonomous Region is part of China as
opposed to the previous description of Tibet as an autonomous region of
China.
(Econ, 11/18/06, p.16)
2003 In India’s northeast Assam
state the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District was declared.
(Econ, 1/14/06, p.48)
2003 India concluded a $1 billion
purchase of Israel's Phalcon airborne radar system. Over the last 18
months the US facilitated the sale of $200 million in defense equipment
to India.
(WSJ, 10/22/03, p.A16)
2003 Captain G.R. Gopinath
launched Air Deccan, India’s 1st low-cost airline.
(Econ, 3/10/07, p.59)
2003 Shopping malls in India
increased from 3 to over 400 over the last 8 years.
(WSJ, 12/16/03, p.A15)
2003 In India over 17,000 farmers
committed suicide this year. Their deaths were most often ascribed to
debt, drought and ready availability of pesticides to serve as poison.
The National Crime Records Bureau later showed that at least 87,567
farmers committed suicide between 2002 and 2007.
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.66)(SFC, 3/22/08, p.A5)
2003-2007 In New Delhi, India, over 300 people were
killed in accidents involving independently operated Blueline buses.
(SFC, 12/7/07, p.A25)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = India
Go to 2004